Terry's 3M's
Almost everyone knows that last night was Oscar night. I didn't watch the live event. I haven't watched the show live in a few years because I really don't get out to see very many movies so, I can't make a valid judgement on who to root for. I just know who I like from other performances.
I think Helen Hunt is great, so, I'm glad she won. But, I didn't see the movie which brought the nomination.
I used to watch the Academy Awards every year. Especially during the years when "the dream" was still alive.
When I was about 11, I decided that I wanted to be an actress. I made up plays to put on in the backyard and could even, on ocassion rope an adult to watch for a few minutes.
You see, I knew that I could never fulfill all my dreams. But, as an actress, I could get to do all the things I wanted to do and be all the things I wanted to be.
When I read books, I became the character in the book. (I was really disappointed when I found out that Gone With the Wind had already been made into a movie because "I" was Scarlett O'Hara!)
I wanted to be a criminal lawyer, a private investigator, an author, a doctor, a ballerina, a singer, a model and the first woman to play for the New York Yankees.
The decision to be an actress came shortly after I did research on the academic requirements to become a doctor. I was in 5th grade at the time. I found out that there were a lot of math courses that I would have to take--and I loathed math. (That's not because I'm not good at it--nobody scores in the top 8& nationwide on the math SATs [and this was in 1969-1970, when they were harder than today's SATs] without having a grasp of the essentials. I just don't enjoy doing it.)
Awww, momentary pause--my son just picked a rose for me from the bushes in the backyard. And he's putting it in water for me. He's so sweet. (Happy mom grin!)
45 minutes later: The kids are now at school; Faye has left for work and I should be folding laundry instead of enjoying my first cup of coffee at the computer.
Now, where was I? Oh, yes....acting. I have always been a bibliophile so it is not surprising that I found the biography section of the library. After I had read a biography of Elizabeth Blackwell (one of the first--if not THE first--woman doctors in the United States [and now you know where the dream of being a doctor came from]), I found biographies of Sarah Bernhardt and Katherine "Kit" Cornell. That's when I realized that if I became an actress, I might be able to fulfill all of my dreams. That dream followed me through the first year of college when I was a dance/theatre major.
The awareness that I would have to support myself came about the same time and the thought of competing against thousands of other hopefuls in NYC for roles in plays without cash to sustain me until "the big break" dampened my ardor considerably.
The office job I got at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center that year was about the closest I got to working in the theatre.
I still don't know if I should have followed the dream or not.
Penny Peyser was my big sister at college my freshman year. We didn't keep in close contact because I lived on the new campus and she lived on the old campus. (A big sister is a student assigned to help a freshman student get adjusted to college life.)
Penny went on to have a role in the mini-series Rich Man, Poor Man, Book II and she was the wife of the younger Fox in the series Crazy Like a Fox. The last thing I saw her in though was a commercial.
On the other hand, one of my other dreams was to be a wife and mother. Well, I'm not a wife; but, I am a mother. And I enjoy that role.
I am also very lucky because I know enough to cherish the times that my son asks me if we can lay on my bed and play Tickle Torture and saying prayers at bedtime with him yawning about halfway through the Our Father. I'm fairly strict. I have a quick temper. I spank (but, I also hug afterwards to show that while I thought the behavior was bad--I still love him). I give lots of hugs and kisses and I tickle a lot, too. I punish. But, I also play Monster Mama, sing songs, and invent games. I assign chores, help with homework, do laundry and cook. I am raising a future voter. I am a MOM. And that is one of the most underrated jobs on this planet--and one of the hardest. It's also the most fulfilling role that I've ever had.
for the border background set.