It was a pleasure today to go and see my nephew Grant (center in the photo above) in the Eldorado High drama department’s presentation of A Midsummer’s Night Dream.

The show was well done, and if not funny for the parts of it we couldn’t understand, it was due to the students who brought a lightness into it that left me chuckling at them throughout. There were many kids who played their parts well.

But for the moment, I’ll bring your attention back to the photo above, because within it, although it is very brief, we see two nobles seated at a table, waited upon by a servant. And in the image, we see Duke Theseus laughing, and Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, looking up at her host with a comfortable smile. And the nameless steward, centered between them, is quietly the star of that beat.

Suitably, my nephew was pretty adept for this role, because he is a lot like that servant- comfortable being present on scene, a quiet source of entertainment and warmth and energy, while content at not needing to be the star- while still able to steal a scene, if he wanted to. And that last quality he has, of not needing to be the star, he possesses because he is just comfortable at being himself.

I have tried to take in every concert and play my sister’s sons have participated in at schools over the years, and this one is special.

It is the last of them all. And I will miss them.

I appreciate Grant’s courage and initiation to just throw himself into these things. It’s been a joy to see him grow as a person- and as a charismatic character- in these chorus and drama events over the years.

Grant facilitating a sideshow. A good bloodletting may be in order here.

Let the wedding festivities begin!