Listen to Your Mother

So, last Sunday I went to an audition. It was about a 45-minute drive out to the Memorial Opera House for it. Sounds crazy to say that. I've never been on stage for anything. In fact, I auditioned for this show last year. Here's the blog I posted after that audition - http://carriemotherhood.blogspot.com/2011/02/i-made-producer-cry.html. I didn't make it.

The show is called Listen to Your Mother. It's a national show with readings from mom writers about motherhood. I watched last year's show online. It was amazing!!! Here's a link to some past LTYM readings - http://www.youtube.com/user/LTYMShow#g/u.

Anyway, I knew that auditions were coming up and just kept trying to talk myself out of it. Things are busy right now. Like really busy. I'm in the midst of completing another book with a May deadline with the publisher. That's in addition to all my other regular writing deadlines. I've been working more shifts than usual at the hospital. It's the busy season for a club I'm in where I'm coordinating an essay contest and a dinner for about 120 veterans and their guests. There are school field trips coming up. Three of my kids have birthdays in the coming weeks. And my oldest is graduating from high school in May. I have a lot on my plate. I surely didn't need to add one more thing to the mix.

Then a couple weeks ago I saw a reminder posting about auditions on the producer's Facebook Page. "What the heck?" I thought to myself. I'd give it one more try. I sat down and tried to write a new piece. I gave up. I used the same one I used to audition last year. The audition was short and sweet. I went in. I read my 4 1/2 minute piece and left...no chatting or anything. I was up and out the door. Did not really think I had a chance.

As I came out from the audition, a friend was waiting. She's a FB friend that I'd actually never met face to face. Her husband and I used to write for the same newspaper and I "met" her that way. When she was pregnant with her now 2-year-old, I got the closest guess on the baby pool and she sent me a cute candle holder that I still use often. She also auditioned last year. We both decided kind of last minute to audition this year and it just happened that our audition times were one right after the other. So, we were excited to get to meet in person finally and went out for lunch afterward. She is such a sweetheart and I was blown away when she said she'd run 7 miles that morning and was training for an upcoming 1/2 marathon. We were hoping perhaps we'd both be cast and then we'd get to see a little more of each other.

A few days after the audition, I saw a FB posting on my wall that said that the cast had been announced. "Oh, well," I thought to myself. "Guess I didn't make it again." I clicked on the link and scrolled down to see if my friend's name was there. It wasn't. Mine was! I guess I'd been sent an e-mail to let me know I'd made it, but it was to the account I don't check every day, so I missed it. I'm grateful and excited that I made the cut. I'm sad my friend didn't.

So, I now have another thing on my plate, but it's a good thing. I'm looking forward to being part of this show with a group of extraordinary moms dispensing motherly advice. Here's the post with the entire cast:

http://www.listentoyourmothershow.com/nwi/2012/03/14/introducing-ltym-northwest-indiana-2012-cast/

And tickets are now on sale! http://tickets.mohlive.com/eventperformances.asp?evt=60