The Truth I Learned From a Broadway Star



Growing up my mother used to talk about her adventures as a young woman in New York City, trying to make in show business alongside her good friend Bernadette Peters. And as children naturally do, we never questioned the legitimacy of mom's stories and simply accepted them as what they were at the time, stories.

It wasn't until I was 11 years old that my mother really got to bring these stories into reality, when we took a family trip to New York City and went to see the Broadway musical 'Into The Woods', starring none other than Bernadette Peters.

What was really exciting, unbeknownst to us kids, mom had contacted Bernadette ahead of time and arranged for the whole family to meet her backstage after the show. Sure enough, after the final curtain, an usher escorted us down a hallway to the "Star" dressing room and knocked on the door. The door opened and...

Now, before I get to what happened next, I need you to understand some more crucial backstory. The reason my mother was walking up to that "Star" dressing room, instead of being the one in that dressing room, was because of a choice.

Bernadette and my mother were advancing side by side up the ranks of the Off-Broadway scene when my mother Norma met and fell in love with my father. This presented a crossroads in her life and a choice to make. She could continue on to pursue Broadway stardom, or she could choose another path towards marriage and family life.

Fortunately for me, she decided to follow the path towards having a family, while Bernadette continued on towards stardom, seemingly forgoing the family option.

Now back to where we left off.

The dressing room door opens and there stands Bernadette, the embodiment of the choice towards Broadway stardom. And she is staring at my mother, the embodiment of the choice towards having a family. For a brief moment, there is a pause as each takes in what life could have been like, had they made different choices. Each one experiencing a bit of envy for what the other had.

The Truth I learned from a Broadway Star is that no matter who we are or where we are in life, we have an opportunity to be great at what we do and experience incredible Joy. A boy's mother can envy a Broadway star while a Broadway star envies his mother - each great at what they do, each experiencing Joy in their own unique way.
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