Diary of a Mom
I am on my way to see my baby girl in her debut as Princess Leticia in her special needs drama class’s performance of The Queen Who Sucked Her Thumb. I could not be more excited if she were opening at Carnegie Hall.
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Last night, the last thing that my girl said before bed was this –
“Everybody loved our show. They clapped for us.”
She went to bed grinning. Because she knew – she knew that she had done something wonderful.
She had memorized her lines.
She had said them loudly.
And clearly!
And she had done her favorite thing in all the world – she had made people laugh.
And oh how we laughed.
Every one of the family members who were in that room yesterday – from moms and dads to grandparents to siblings, watched their very own star shine.
The low ceiling of the basement room where the special needs drama class is held suddenly rose to grand heights when the sheer force of accomplishment, love and applause simply grew too big for the space. The plastic grey folding chairs crammed into the tiny room may as well have been covered in the lushest of red velvet. We were all – every one of us – transported.
And all because somebody said, “These kids are worth it.”
All because a classroom teacher decided to invest his time, his love, his heart and his soul into creating a place for our kids.
Into letting one little girl believe that she can be a princess.
And letting her see that given the chance, she can be anything.
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To Drama Dave,
You can’t imagine the breadth of what you’ve given my child. The words are woefully insufficient, but from the bottom of this mother’s very proud heart, THANK YOU.
Love,
Jess
My heart is clapping! …and thank you to all of the Drama Daves in this world.
Love you,
Mom
What a wonderful way to put into words how proud you are.. “My heart is clapping”! with all of you, too!! Just wonderful!!
The K play is Old Mc Donald this year and our inclusive school has Teddy in it. I started softly singing Old Mc Donald and he started doing some of the animal sounds with me! I wrote some emails like the one to Dave let me tell you!
A star is born! Every child needs a drama Dave in their lives. What an amazing guy. I hope this inspires more people to take time for our kids and unlock their special talents.
As a Drama David parent alum I second your admiration for him.
It’s getting dusty in here! What an incredible gift. This is the stuff that is life altering, that sows seeds of hope. So happy for her!
Clearly we need more Drama Dave’s, at least 1 in CT. WTG Brooke.
Bravo Brooke Bravo!
And as an autism Mama on the road a bit ahead of you – if she has a passion for drama then that can be something included in her transition planning which will start when she is 13. I wish every school had a Drama Dave….
Everyone should have a Drama Dave. How wonderful for Brooke and the other children in her play!
Oh Jess! That post needed a huge tissue alert. I love everything about this. God bless Drama Dave.
This is great, great stuff. Bravo Brooke! I too have struggled to express my appreciation for people that have gone out of their way to include my son. These are people that clearly Get It, but sometimes think even they have no idea what they do for our kids and our entire families.
awww. . . YAY! Encore! Encore!
Tears. There just isn’t enough love or words for those who make our children realize their worth. Or for the parents who watch and witness and experience these special people reach and cherish our awesome children. I hope Drama Dave reads this post and these comments. Thank you Drama Dave.
Grinning to broadly to be able to think of something to say except…BRAVA, BROOKE!! And Drama Dave rocks.
Ugh…TOO broadly. WordPress needs a grammar check feature for comments, dang it!
That is AWESOME…and really strikes a cord with me, being a theatre person myself. I am so proud of your Brooke. It is amazing that she can do it!!! She’s come sooo far and it gives me hope that my Cymbie will one day be able to do things like that.
On another note, I’m a little sad Drama Dave never got back to me. You cyber introduced us so I could pick his brain about the class. He wrote me once saying he’d get back to me, and I guess he got busy and caught up in stuff, bc I never heard from him after that.
Anyway, this is beyond words! And I am sooooo happy for you all and PROUD for you too! xoxxo
Bravo Brooke! Awesome! Drama Save sounds like an amazing guy! I am now off to see if I can find a class like this on Long Island fir my baby girl…. She lives to sing ….and I would live to build on that!! If anyone knows of one feel free to let me know…thanks! 🙂
Drama “Dave” sounds awesome!
And all those “lives” should be “loves”
What is with this autocorrect? 😦
Thank you.
You know, everyone has a little Drama Dave in them. We just need to think about how to access it, and how to share it.
Drama Dave, thank you. I, uh, get it. Bless you, my friend.
There is always sucess when you are in the company of so much love. It starts with you and moves to your little Brooke. It causes her to be confident and know she is loved. As you know, when you are loved you can do almost anything…..and you Jessica, have done just that and so will brooke….
Love you all,
Dad