"Revivendo Sonhos"

Last night, Sam performed in his third musical presentation in Brazil, "Revivendo Sonhos" or "Reliving Dreams". He and his classmates were dressed in their pajamas and carrying teddy bears, and the stage was decorated with a panorama made of balloons, with a light blue balloon sky and green balloon mountains and  including a wooden cut-out of life-size kids flying in a hot air balloon.

About two-thirds of the way through the show, Sam's class finally came on and Pete made his way to the aisle. He started down the aisle and toward the stage and when Elise stopped him, he burst into tears. All this time he thought he would be joining Sam on stage to sing and dance.

Let me tell you, Sam has come a long way since his debut, when he stood beside a May Pole, paralyzed by stage fright. I would like to say that Sam was one of the more animated and synchronized of his peers, but, honestly, I couldn't take my eyes off him to compare. He knew all the words, and mouthed the song and sang to the Brazilian tune which started off slowly, almost like a trance, before both the tune and Sam popped to life and strutted their stuff.

Of course, we made the mistake of being on time to a performance in Brazil, getting Sam to the theater by 3:30, the requested hour. All the other parents brought their kids thirty seconds before curtains up. Though we had good seats, two hours later, both Pete and Clementine had reached the limits. Even I was ready to go after Tia Giselle started inviting the Brazilian moms on to the stage for a number, including the one that insisted on video-taping the entire performance on her iPad right in front of us.

The show ended with the entire school signing along with and dancing to John Lennon's "Imagine". I belted out the words, perhaps the only one in the theater that knew them all with Peter standing on my lap waving his arms. By this time, we had earned the right to be goofy and draw a little attention to ourselves.

Whatever the take-away was from the show...whether it be that all children have the right to grow up and realize their dreams of living in peace and health and harmony or whether everyone should embrace their inner child and dream...it worked, as all three of our children slept until 6:50 the following morning. This is a big deal, as Clementine has woken for the day no later than 5:30 in the past six months. Ironically, I felt less awake and ready to face the day at 6:50 than I normally do at 5:30.