This week grateful for:
A weeknight at home- I got to cook dinner, help with homework and piano, do laundry, and go to bed before midnight. It was amazing.
Opening a show. There was one little snafu during the show, but otherwise it went well. It felt good to finally call all the cues in my book.
Printed spot labels. One of the most time consuming parts of putting cues in my book is writing in the information for the spotlight operators. The Stage Manager tells the spot ops whom to pick up with their light, where that person will be onstage, and what level intensity the light will be (in percentage) and also when to switch the colour in their light and then when to fade out. It’s a lot. Usually it takes a few hours to get it all in my book. My grandboss had this brilliant idea this show for the Assistant Lighting Designer, who creates the spotlight cues, to type labels with all this information. It was amazing. I just took the labels, put them in my book, and read them for the first time during final dress rehearsal. Okay, so it’s not my ideal situation to blindly call the spots for the first time during final dress- I like to have a better sense of what the spots need to do. But I simply did not have time to put the cues in my book ahead of time during this show. Having the spot cues pre-written took a huge chunk off my plate.
Friends who took the 5 year old for an overnight On one of the nights when the Husband had to be at the theatre late to pick up the 7 year old, our neighbors picked up the 5 year old from school (our kids are at the same pre-school) and kept her for the evening and an overnight. The 5 year old had a great time and it was helpful for her not to have to ride along to the theatre.
My hoodie that I keep in the office. I don’t usually love having branded work swag, but having this hoodie was really helpful last week because it was really cold in the theatre. And I spent a lot of time in the theatre.
All the people I work with – I know I said this last week, but it’s still true. I’ve dropped the ball on a lot of things or passed things off, and people have picked up the slack and given me grace and we still get the show up and sometimes we laugh a lot along the way, even while realizing how ridiculous the situation is. I couldn’t do this job if everyone was an asshole.
The Husband – it’s broken record worth listening to. The kids and I could not get through tech week and our busy schedules if he didn’t pick them up, feed them, drive them places, help with homework, bake cookies (he baked cookies on Monday when he was off for Vegeans’s day!), do laundry, pick up the house, keep in touch with contractors, and worry about us driving late at night.
What are you grateful for this week?
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That’s a wonderful list of things to be grateful for. Having the support around you is a godsend, husband and neighbours to help pick up the slack when busy. And working in the theatre? Is this your full time job, or something you’re doing in between? I’m curious.
By the way, thank you for stopping by my blog and commenting.
Thank you for visiting *my* blog!
Theatre/opera is indeed my full time job. Well, full time seasonal. I’d say it’s about 30 weeks a year since we aren’t in production year round. In between I pick up other stage management gigs, do some supertitle work, and work hard a mom-ing and wife-ing and human-ing.
I have a few connections..
One: My week nights are always at the house but I take for granted the little stuff like putting away laundry and playing with kiddos. I often wish for bedtime so I can read my book 😉 Need to be more mindful of the little things.
Two: having friends/neighbors to take your kids. We have two families on both sides of our house I wholeheartedly trust and that’s so special. Particularly that neither T nor I have family in NJ.
I do wish for bedtime too! I need everyone to be asleep by 9pm so I can have an hour or two (or three) to myself. But I’m always surprised how much I pack into an evening after not being home in the evenings for a while.
I am glad you have great neighbors that can help out! That is awesome. And hooray for a rockstar husband. I feel similarly about mine. He does so much for our family especially with how often I am traveling!
I don’t think you could have kids and a career like yours if you didn’t have a supportive husband! He’s definitely someone to be grateful for. It’s also important to have a network of parents and neighbors who can help out when you need them. And- a nice warm hoodie is invaluable.
Lovely list.
Such blessing – all of it.
Specially the support from your husband and community.
I love that expression, a broken record worth listening to. Lovely.
I’m glad that opening night went well, and that you have kind neighbors and a husband who has the flexibility to dive in and get the work done, so it’s not all on you.
I’m thankful that our 45 year old HVAC system is still working. The thermostat went out on Friday, and we bought a new one yesterday. Ended up needing a little help getting it going, we are not handy people and we had wired something wrong. So I’m also thankful to our kind handyman, who even though he was tired and had been at 7 jobs yesterday, still made time and came by and finished the job for us last night. <3 Very thankful for him!
I just finished a book that was about an actress in the theater and it made me think of you. They even mentioned tech week! (The book was Pretty Face by Lucy Parker, a very excellent romance.)
Glad you have supportive neighbors and friends and partner to get you through this busy season!
oooh! I read a Lucy Parker book – Act Like It? – when it first came out. I’ll have to look up Pretty Face. I do love a good theatre book.
What a beautiful list. 💕
What a great list again, Diane! Such a good weekly practice!