gratitude

Sometimes I'm just so grateful that this has become my life. Of course, there are times when I wonder why the hell I picked this profession because it can certainly make me feel miserable, but more often than that, I have this feeling of awe that I get to have this life. Last night I was driving along the pacific coast highway with the ocean on my left and all these interesting stores and restaurants on my right, having just returned from dinner at my cousin's house. It was a beautiful night and I was savoring the fact that I didn't have to be at rehearsal until 7 PM the next evening (we move into the theater tonight, so our schedule goes to all evening rehearsals). I have to remind myself of this feeling next time I'm in some awful town and am horribly lonely reading a mean review written about me while performing an opera I can't stand. Remind me, someone.

Last night was so fantastic. I happen to have a cousin who lives in Orange County, and I haven't seen him or his wife since before they had their two kids, so I hadn't ever even met the kids. I may be biased because I'm related to them, but they were some of the cutest, nicest kids I have ever met. Sometimes you meet a family and you think to yourself - "god - why is that I want to have kids again?", but this was the opposite. The kids - Elise who is 1 and Ethan who is 3 - were so adorable, happy, friendly, and well behaved, that I think my uterus was actually reaching outside my body and tapping me on the shoulder while yelling "get your ass in gear Rivera!" I was VERY impressed with the parenting my cousin and his wife are doing - they seem to have found the perfect combination of discipline and communication, which makes for very happy, easy-going children. Just look at these faces!



I'm just really lucky that I happen to be paid to work in a place where this part of my family lives, where the weather is beautiful, and where I can smell the ocean from my kitchen. Life's kinda good sometimes, I gotta admit.