Joy found in a wonderful place!

Over the past week (wow, has it been a week?) I have been stage manager for the Bright Lites Theatre company and their production of Alice in Wonderland. It's been full of laughter, smiling, new formed friendships just because you bring a smile their face, and some frustration. But frustration comes with a lot of things. The show is made up of entirely kids and adults from the high school and community with mental disabilities. My brother is autistic and an actor in the show, so long before I was appointed stage manager (or rather just asked, who wants to be stage manager for Bright Lites?) my brother, Sean, would come home everyday from an afternoon of building the props for the show and say "Rod says hi!" Rod is the director who I have worked with for the past two years, when Bright Lites was just an idea swimming around in his head. Sean would also tell me things like "we need a drum." and I would ask him for what exactly, he knew that I had co-written the script with Rod and a few others, so he didn't go into immense detail, but that's also the way he is. Then I vounteered to be stage manager for the production. Just imagine it, the Ternoway siblings, going to play rehersal together, yes..I have turned my brother into a theatre geek! But I think I did that when we went to see Phantom of the Opera in Spokane haha.
I now have a bond with my brother, that well, only we really know the full magnitude of, and it's wonderful! I have also formed friendships with a few of the kids, that I couldn't imagine not having. And they just formed because they said "hey friend, I like you!" One can learn alot from these guys because they don't care what you look like, whether you're rich, poor, fat or skinny, they just like you because you're kind to them, and you give them a chance. How wonderful would our world be if we all thought that way? It would be pretty amazing!