My beautiful baby is a married lady as of April 12, 2014. For those who remember, she was the bump in my belly that got hidden behind the potted plants, petunias and a fat storyline. I laughed thru 9 months of pregnancy and I’m totally positive my own complete fulfillment in “having it all” at that time, produced the fantastic aura that now surrounds our Golden Girl. She can do no wrong. She attracts the light in anyone lucky enough to be in her world. Brian is one lucky man.
And we are lucky and grateful to adopt him into our family. My husband always wanted a son, but this particular son is an only child and the cherished apple in the eye of both his Iowan parents, Mike & Debbie Angstadt. We’ll just have to learn to share. For now my newest role is to babysit Zo (the shelter Pomeranian) while they take off for their honeymoon in Hawaii.
So glad the sun is starting to shine in New York again. This has been quite a winter. Tons of snow. Rain. Cold. But did you notice we had the warmest, sunniest weekend on April 12 for the wedding? Bet you didn’t even notice. We sure did. Grateful. Grateful. Thank you God!
This year is definitely shaping up to be a year of marker transitions. Some visible – like cutting all my hair off and allowing it to go grey. Some, like securing agent representation once again, are invisible yet tangible signs of progression. My website is shaping up as I scrapbook my past and continue to write the soap opera that is my life. Today, in fact, Saturday, April 26, 2014 is one of those special days that, without social media, would just go in my diary. Today, several older women were honored by Fordham University as Charlotte Newcombe Scholarship recipients. The relatively small Foundation supports older women who return to college to finish their education. My BFA from the North Çarolina School of the Arts got put on hold when I came to New York and immediately started working on Broadway. My life took off! Who has time for school? Life experience is like a Master’s Degree!
After a couple of decades creating many fabulous theatrical lives, I found myself with a family to raise, no theatrical agent and no job. So, I did what any crazy, broke, at my wits end person would do — I went back to school and eventually graduated with honors. And I highly recommend the therapy. Educating my mind again saved my soul. And I’m using everything I learned in graphic design, video editing and writing in my life now. Fordham professors encouraged, supported and challenged me again. I was just sorry I couldn’t take any of the drama classes — I was also working 9 to 5 by then. So, ya do what ya gotta do. I switched my major to Communications and started the journey.
Now as empty nesters, my husband and I are dating again — and New York is the most wonderful city in the world for free and fabulous entertainment. On any given sunny day, you’ll find us biking along the Hudson River; or hanging out in one of the many free SAG Foundation events given to union members. I encourage each and every aspiring young artist to get a strong foundation in training and work to achieve union status as soon as possible. Vesting in your union will allow you at an older age — when opportunities may be few and far between — to still have a choice in how you want to play out that last chapter of your life. I still need to vest in SAG. That’s now a goal for my theatrical future and my biological clock is ticking.
Stay tuned. Chapters are still being written in this soap opera that is my life. May each of you make choices that fulfill your soul and bring light to the community and universe around each of you.
