It’s Friday.  I finished my last math class at 3:10 and spent a little time answering emails and organizing homework papers into stacks of things to grade over the weekend.  I headed home about 4:00, my easy 200-yard walk from math office to house, and then relaxed for a bit over The Big Bang Theory.  My children are grown and my husband had headed to Mammoth for a ski weekend with our older daughter.  We are two weeks away from the performance of this year’s musical Anything Goes and I scheduled a few short rehearsals of dance sections in songs for 5:30 and 6:00. Why am I rehearsing on a Friday evening, I thought to myself.Fridays between 5:15 and 8:00 are a quiet time around campus.  I’m never sure what people are up to.  Finding rehearsal time is always a challenge, but as I walked over to the dance studio I felt like I was dragging my feet unsure about choreography I had played with earlier in the day.

With the help of four terrific, willing and cooperative young men I put together a little section highlighting our Reno Sweeney in one of her big numbers.  When I suggested they were just there to support her and lift her above their heads they smiled and gave it a try.  They advised each other and gave me suggestions, and Reno trusted them as she did a high kick while lying on her back lifted 7 feet in the air. Then I moved on to the dance break in a romantic duet with another two students.  I hadn’t been sure what they could do, but the more I offered the more they were willing.  We started their second song and I realized how much fun I was having with these teenagers who were happy to rehearse on a Friday afternoon.

Walking back from the PAC I felt a bounce in my step, I was humming the last song, and smiling.  Really smiling.  Remembering why I love what I do here and why rehearsal on a Friday late afternoon can be the best thing after all.