my first day of school

I was all a-jitter with nerves and excitement this week because yesterday marked my first day of GRAD SCHOOL. I had that familiar too-early wake up, my insides knowing it was a big day. I found myself ready too early, and sitting anxiously at the kitchen table with my bleary-eyed husband. He gave me amusing words of wisdom: play nice with the other kids,  make good choices, etc. He told me I looked great as many times as I asked "do I look ok?" or wished aloud that we'd gone "back to school shopping." 



waiting for the train to a new endeavor



 my first grad school orientation session

Sitting in the gorgeous Paramount Theatre with the incoming class of Emerson grad students, I was glad we'd skipped the back-to-school shopping though. I was thankful to be sitting there, content in my skin and my attire, knowing this was a much different kind of back-to-school. I didn't need to be putting on a show, or in a costume. I was amongst an artsy and diverse assortment of our generation's leaders and thinkers. The speakers used words like "community," and "integrity." I kept thinking "this is good. I'm suppose to be here."



an afternoon break in sunshine on the Boston Commons

Not to mention- Boston is a lovely escape from my life on the North Shore. All these new people, in this familiar, yet new place. It was exciting to walk into buildings that I've always just walked past. It was fun to be in the city and feel some ownership, reminiscent of my time living in NYC- that feeling of suddenly leaving the role as tourist and claiming a piece of a place.



meeting the already-inspiring theatre profs...so exciting!

And then there was the time in my department. BAH!! I am bursting. I love my job, and its an incredible opportunity, but to talk to people who understand my passion for theatre, man-oh-man, it was incredible. To be in a group of people who want to make a difference in the world through theatre. BAH!! Seriously, I am bursting. It was thrilling, and I can't explain the delight already of being a part of a theatre community again- to be learning, and striving alongside like-minded artists. I met the professor of one of my Fall classes and she's already making connections for me and passing along dissertations I should read. Her focus is political theatre. She co-teaches a Spring course called Theatre and Human Rights. Seriously? Bursting. 

back on the rail, heading home



i have the best husband.

And then I was back on the North Shore, chatting on the phone with my delightful, excited, proud and supportive mother. I walked back to our apartment and my husband had been thinking of me all day. Clean laundry was done, my delicates draped over our dining room furniture. Our sheets were clean and he'd rotated the mattress. The apartment was full of delicious smells, and there were not one, but TWO crock pots a-brimming with food. And I'd been thinking of him all day too- kept proudly mentioning "my husband" in conversation, and thinking what his reaction to the day's events would have been. We'd been having a dialogue in our minds all day, and we didn't even know. What a lovely, thrilling, exciting day.