Last Opening Night

I am standing in the shop...just the cats and I. It's quiet, except for the hum of the computer and the soundtrack from the stage softly coming from the monitor.

It's so hard to believe it's the last show...I have been so involved in opening nights here for so many years...even before I was a student in the theatre department.

There was no hoopla...nothing said about my last opening night. I guess it's just a big deal to me...it seems so sad. This is home...I have everything I need here when I bring the kids in. I know this room so well...this is my room, this building my home. I know every corner, secret hiding place...there's not a place I can't link to some memory.

And so soon I will have to say goodbye for good. Soon, there will be no new memories made and the ones I have will start to age...like an old photograph.

There is a piece of me here...I know there always will be. And I just hope that I have made some impression--that there is some legacy I have left behind. That the love I feel for this place will be spread to those who come after me...

I am one lucky woman. I have been so fortunate to have gotten to stay here for so long. For every experience--every laugh, every tear, every late night--I am truly thankful.

I can't imagine anywhere else I would rather be...but I know it's time to move on.

I sometimes don't know how to feel...facing this alone. I knew I would have to eventually...and it's ok. The future is so uncertain...and having to walk away from here, just my own two feet (and eight tiny paws) and no hand to hold--is so bittersweet. I will always miss this place--I know it. I will miss these people, these walls...the late nights and corny jokes. I have seen so much in this place...years of students...faculty...lives.

Every time the curtain goes up, it must eventually come down. The hands are on the rail, on standby to lower my curtain here. End of scene.