The Wonderful Wizard.

For those of you who might not know, I’m an actor. I do community theater and stuff, and I’ve been doing it for the past several years.

As a matter of fact, when the surgery happened, I had just come off of a month as Mr. Bennet in ‘Pride and Prejudice,” which was really lovely and quite a bit of fun.

And I had been pre-cast to play Uncle Henry in ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ alongside my wife, which would make the first time that we got to play in scenes together on stage. Adding to that, our son got cast as one of the Lollipop Guild.

It was going to be a real family affair.

Believe it or not, while I was in the hospital, I was worried, and, in fact, positive, that I wasn’t going to be able to it. You know, with the whole ‘only one foot’ thing and all.

It wasn’t too long after the surgery that the director of the play and the woman who played Mrs. Bennet came to visit. At that time, she told me that she wasn’t even thinking of recasting, and that the part was still mine, should I want to do it.

Still, my confidence lacked, because, at the time, I couldn’t even stand up. I didn’t want to do it unless I was going to be good at it, but I committed, because I wanted to have something to look forward to, and something to strive toward.

Well, I’m pround to say that we’re in the second weekend of the show now, and I’m getting around pretty well. Would I have liked to have been in the prosthetic by now? Of course I would, but I’m doing pretty well in the wheelchair.

And, you know what? I’m pretty good. Not perfect, but good. Are there some things I would like to be doing that require movement? Sure. But I wouldn’t watch myself onstage and think that I’m out of place.

I belong there.

And the great part is that it is really a family affair. And we’re all having a good time together.

I can’t thank my director enough for believing in me, and for not trying to find a way to recast. I’m very grateful just to be onstage, and doing something I really love to do.

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As always, if you have it in you, please give a thought to donating time or money to Hospice Austin. They do amazing work for people who are going through the hardest thing a person can face.

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