He made this face when he opened it, and yes that's real, not staged. Seriously.
If I thought he'd be embarrassed about me announcing his love of a Disney Princess movie, I wouldn't post it, but I'm pretty sure he's proud of it. So don't judge me.
ANYway, yesterday with sickie sickie Tommy, I thought we should watch it. Rather, I thought he should watch it, and I should put away all the Christmas crap which has been driving me crazy!. He thought we should watch it together.
He won.
Mostly.
Turns out that I have the complete movie memorized. Seriously.
I think it's because my 4th grade class performed the play. Charles Donaldson was Belle's crazy father, and every time that guy has a line, I hear Charles' voice in my head instead of the Disney guy's voice. That means something about his performance right? He was incredible. Do you think that Charles Donaldson will ever google himself and wind up at this post? Just in case: Hi Charles! Long time no see!
I was the rose. And the narrator. (I shared the part of rose/narrator with someone else and we took turns being each part.) What that means is that on "rose" night I wore green tights and a green leotard and a flower thing on my head (thank you Anne Geddes). And my big scene was plucking the last petal and dramatically dropping it to the ground.
Now I don't know if you remember 4th grade or not....but probably you don't remember me in 4th grade. For a woman of my stature 4th grade is an awkward time. I was lumpy in all the wrong places and wearing a leotard and tights seemed like cruel and unusual punishment. Fortunately digital photography did not exist yet, and my mom was not nearly as camera-happy as I am. (Thanks mom!)
On the flip side as the narrator I got to wear my prettiest pink dress. I remember standing in front of the mirror at home before the big performance admiring my dress. This was the equivalent of Prom in my eyes and I was going to be the most beautiful narrator there was. I. Looked. Fabulous.
So here's the moral of the story: Sometimes in life you gotta be the awkward, lumpy, oversized rose in a green leotard and tights. Other times in life you get to be the prettiest, pinkest, ruffliest narrator there ever was.
I choose to stand in front of the mirror on pretty, pink, ruffly days.
Ohhh! I was so jealous of you guys! The years before us did disney movies, and the years after us disney movies, and you know what we did? A musical about grammar. Not kidding. Songs about prepositions and nouns.
ReplyDeleteDo you remember Leslie McBride? She was my best friend, and was in Beauty and the Beast with you. I don't remember what she did, but I want to say she was a utensil or something.
Do you know who I occasionally think of, though she is a total stranger, because of her part in the school play? Sonya Somebody, who played the part of Sebastian in the Little Mermaid. She was a couple years older than me, so maybe you didn't get to see it (but if you did, I bet you remember her. Girl was GOOD. Or at least she was in my second grader mind).
That's awesome that he was so excited about the movie. We got it for Christmas too and watched it for the first time yesterday too....TWICE. Jules and I were actually quoting it as I sat down to check blogs. Love that movie...Sad I missed the play.
ReplyDeleteI would laugh if Charles ever ended up at your blog. Who did you have for 4th grade? I don't remember doing a play of any sort...
ReplyDeleteI loved the moral of the story. Really. I think sometimes we all feel lumpy, green, leotarded, and awkward. But it's important to remember that we're still beautiful.
ReplyDeleteHeather - Grammar? Seriously? Tragic.
ReplyDeleteI totally remember Leslie! What's she doing these days?
Platt - I had Barker, but I'm pretty sure it was a school-wide thing. Right? Maybe it wasn't 4th grade....am I making things up?
I remember doing Beauty and the Beast. I was just in the chorus and felt totally uncool. For some reason I thought it was third grade, until now and I am not sure. It was a grade wide thing.
ReplyDeleteThey should have done that more than one year, it was a fun thing.