Rewards

"Nothing you do for a child is ever wasted." -- Garrison Keillor

Rewards come in various forms - money, trophies, your picture on a magazine, your name on a shoe, your image attacked by a talk radio host (now there's a true sign you've 'made it,' right?). All these rewards would be great (except maybe the talk radio blasting), but the greatest rewards in my life are the intangible ones.

This weekend I directed a group of elementary students in a musical performance of "Hansel and Gretel." We'd been rehearsing since late September, once or twice on stage, but mostly in the cafeteria or hallways. We lost some practices because of scheduling conflicts and even lost our dress rehearsal due to a weather-related school closing.

The kids weren't ready to perform for an audience, but the old saying, "the show must go on," was validated Saturday night. These kids had worked so hard and I felt so badly for not preparing them as well as I felt I should have. Most of the cast had never had a prominent role in any performance of any kind. Several had never performed on stage, period. Yet here they were, under the lights, giving it their best to a relatively large audience.

And they blew me away. Not only did they run the show with minimal mistakes, but they performed it with an energy I'd never before seen from them. I was so proud of them. My eyes welled as they took their final bows.

Am I making too much out of an elementary school play? Perhaps. I tend to over invest myself in most things I do. But this performance, by these kids, is a memory they will have the rest of their lives. I am so happy to have been a part of it and the reward I felt as I watched them smile on stage and accept accolades from their adoring fans after the show was better than any check I've ever received for acting, directing, or producing.

Now if only those intangible rewards could pay the bills... :)