This Is Not a Dress Rehearsal! (General)

Those words were repeated on many opening nights for play productions while I was in college. This was a director’s saying to insure that all the actors knew that this was the big night, the real thing, and that there were no “do-overs” when you had an audience full of patrons. Opening night was the culmination of all your rehearsal, and now it was time to shine. Those words always gave me a sense of focus, anticipation, and a little bit of fear. I have a big yellow button in my office that reads, “This is not a dress rehearsal.” I have carried it from job to job, office to office and it always is given a prominent area of display. It provides me a constant reminder that every day is like opening night, and a performance that I will never get to repeat. It’s a “carpe diem” kind of thing, and believe me, some days I am better at “seizing the day” than others. Today, I am attending a funeral for a friend who died too young. She fought a determined fight with cancer, and she lost that battle on Monday. Kelly was an inspiration to others; a truly caring and giving person. She lived each day like “opening night” and she will truly be missed. Greg was by her side every minute and he, too, provided an example of courage, love, and dedication. He has an amazing gift of giving comfort to others even in his time of pain. As I write this, I’m thinking about how precious each day really is, and about how much time I spend consumed with the small stuff; things that, in the long run, really don’t matter. Today my “to do” doesn’t seem so important. It really doesn’t matter much if my dry cleaning is done, or the grass gets mowed. I have decided that I am going to concentrate on enjoying that blue sky and sunshine that we are treated to each day here in Orlando, because I think I have been taking that for granted for a while. I have decided that I may have to wait an extra minute or two for the driver in front of me today, or that I may even get cut off in traffic and it is going to be ok…. Life will go on for me, and the curtain of dawn will rise, we will say goodbye to Kelly…and pray that life is only our dress rehearsal.