Last month my youngest daughter did an amazing thing.
She failed.
It was awesome!
I was and am incredibly proud of her.
Let me explain.
My daughter loves the theater. She has dreams of acting on Broadway someday. All of the colleges she has applied to have excellent programs in theater arts.
This is not a sudden whim to become famous or see her name up in lights, although I'm sure she wouldn't complain if that happens.
Acting has been a part of her life since her third grade teacher gave her a flyer for an acting camp and said that she thought Meighan would have a lot of fun with it.
Meighan auditioned for that camp and got a part. She spent a couple of months learning the music and her lines before the camp started the week after school got out. Camp consisted of learning about blocking, choreography, working with a lot of other people and many more things that come with being part of a play.
She loved every minute of it.
She has been in a production of one kind or another every year since then. Ten years of auditions, rehearsals, laughter, tears, and a great deal of hard work.
One of the schools that she decided to apply to was Juilliard. If you haven't heard of Juilliard, it's one of the most prestigious fine arts school in the country and it is VERY difficult to be accepted there. For just the theater program this year they were only accepting 18 students. Eighteen!!
We traveled to San Francisco so that Meighan could do her audition. If she got a call back after the first audition, she would have another one that night. If she got another call back, we would be making a trip to New York for yet another audition.
Juilliard does not mess around!
Now, I think my daughter is amazing and extremely talented. But I'm also pretty sure that every person who was at that audition was also amazing and extremely talented.
Meighan went into the audition with the best attitude.
She wanted to enjoy the experience.
We did some site seeing in the morning before we needed to be at the audition site. It was fun to have some adventures before the big part of the day. I enjoyed making some more memories with Meighan since I know that she will be leaving for college soon so these opportunities will be fewer and farther between.
After lunch it was time to head to the audition.
We checked in at the theater and were welcomed very nicely by the staff from Juilliard. It was fun to watch Meighan interact with them and get all settled for the experience.
Watching the other people at the audition was very similar to people watching before a race starts.
Some people were obviously nervous with lots of lag shaking or foot tapping.
Others were sitting a bit apart and reviewing their lines to themselves.
A few were visiting with people near them.
One guy was so wound so tight he was literally bouncing all over the place.
It wasn't long before they asked all the people auditioning to join them for a warm up. This left a few parents and friend hanging out together. We could hear the group doing their warm up together and it made me smile because it sounded fun.
Meighan returned with a big smile. She said it was as fun as it sounded.
The list went up with the order of the auditions for her group. One person would be auditioning, another would be ready to go on next and then they would let the next person know to be ready to go be on deck. Meighan was at toward the top of the list so it wasn't long before she took off.
I ended up visiting with the lady who was in charge of admissions at Juliard. She told me that they might take one person from this group so the odds were not high for anyone moving on. She told me how she had auditioned when she was 18 and didn't get in. So she went to a different school and a different program and had a great experience. Now she is in charge of the admissions process at the very school that she didn't get into. She loves that her journey brought her full circle. It was fun to see how she appreciated that journey.
Every time someone came back in the room the other people would ask how it went. People were very supportive and encouraging. It was fun to watch them commiserate together and get all chatty once they were done and it was all over. By the time the whole group had their turn most of them were exchanging stories and backgrounds. Again, very much like people do after a race.
How did you do?
Nice work!
Awesome!
Good for you!
What's your next thing?
That's so cool!
Not too much longer and they gathered the people who had auditioned together to let them know how much they appreciated them being there. They took only one from Meighan's group. They posted the list and it didn't take long for everyone to know what the result was.
Just like that our Juliard Audition adventure was done.
But my girl was still smiling!
She gave it a shot.
She had a fabulous time.
She learned new things and met some new people.
And she is even more excited to see where her dreams will take her.
I'm not going to lie, I'm quite in awe of her.
It's an amazing thing as a parent to look at your children and watch them do things you never would have dared to do.
It's even more incredible as a parent to feel like your children are teaching you life lessons. Isn't that supposed to be the other way around?
I work hard at having a growth mindset. I love knowing that I am always learning and growing as a person.
Looking forward to making some new goals, having some new adventures and probably failing at a few things.
But failing with a smile on my face.
I learned that from Meighan.
She failed.
It was awesome!
I was and am incredibly proud of her.
Let me explain.
My daughter loves the theater. She has dreams of acting on Broadway someday. All of the colleges she has applied to have excellent programs in theater arts.
This is not a sudden whim to become famous or see her name up in lights, although I'm sure she wouldn't complain if that happens.
Acting has been a part of her life since her third grade teacher gave her a flyer for an acting camp and said that she thought Meighan would have a lot of fun with it.
Meighan auditioned for that camp and got a part. She spent a couple of months learning the music and her lines before the camp started the week after school got out. Camp consisted of learning about blocking, choreography, working with a lot of other people and many more things that come with being part of a play.
She loved every minute of it.
She has been in a production of one kind or another every year since then. Ten years of auditions, rehearsals, laughter, tears, and a great deal of hard work.
One of the schools that she decided to apply to was Juilliard. If you haven't heard of Juilliard, it's one of the most prestigious fine arts school in the country and it is VERY difficult to be accepted there. For just the theater program this year they were only accepting 18 students. Eighteen!!
Juilliard does not mess around!
Now, I think my daughter is amazing and extremely talented. But I'm also pretty sure that every person who was at that audition was also amazing and extremely talented.
Meighan went into the audition with the best attitude.
She wanted to enjoy the experience.
We did some site seeing in the morning before we needed to be at the audition site. It was fun to have some adventures before the big part of the day. I enjoyed making some more memories with Meighan since I know that she will be leaving for college soon so these opportunities will be fewer and farther between.
 |
| Waiting for her turn. 😍 |
Some people were obviously nervous with lots of lag shaking or foot tapping.
Others were sitting a bit apart and reviewing their lines to themselves.
A few were visiting with people near them.
One guy was so wound so tight he was literally bouncing all over the place.
It wasn't long before they asked all the people auditioning to join them for a warm up. This left a few parents and friend hanging out together. We could hear the group doing their warm up together and it made me smile because it sounded fun.
Meighan returned with a big smile. She said it was as fun as it sounded.
The list went up with the order of the auditions for her group. One person would be auditioning, another would be ready to go on next and then they would let the next person know to be ready to go be on deck. Meighan was at toward the top of the list so it wasn't long before she took off.
I ended up visiting with the lady who was in charge of admissions at Juliard. She told me that they might take one person from this group so the odds were not high for anyone moving on. She told me how she had auditioned when she was 18 and didn't get in. So she went to a different school and a different program and had a great experience. Now she is in charge of the admissions process at the very school that she didn't get into. She loves that her journey brought her full circle. It was fun to see how she appreciated that journey.
Every time someone came back in the room the other people would ask how it went. People were very supportive and encouraging. It was fun to watch them commiserate together and get all chatty once they were done and it was all over. By the time the whole group had their turn most of them were exchanging stories and backgrounds. Again, very much like people do after a race.
How did you do?
Nice work!
Awesome!
Good for you!
What's your next thing?
That's so cool!
Not too much longer and they gathered the people who had auditioned together to let them know how much they appreciated them being there. They took only one from Meighan's group. They posted the list and it didn't take long for everyone to know what the result was.
Just like that our Juliard Audition adventure was done.
But my girl was still smiling!
 |
| This is the smile of a girl who went for her dreams! |
She had a fabulous time.
She learned new things and met some new people.
And she is even more excited to see where her dreams will take her.
I'm not going to lie, I'm quite in awe of her.
It's an amazing thing as a parent to look at your children and watch them do things you never would have dared to do.
It's even more incredible as a parent to feel like your children are teaching you life lessons. Isn't that supposed to be the other way around?
I work hard at having a growth mindset. I love knowing that I am always learning and growing as a person.
Looking forward to making some new goals, having some new adventures and probably failing at a few things.
But failing with a smile on my face.
I learned that from Meighan.
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