I thought it might be interesting to many of you to get a glimpse into what was happening in Laura's life one year ago.  She was playing the part of Peter Pan in our local Eagan Summer Theatre--complete with flying adventures from a company called ZFX that is the same professional flying crew that flew Cathy Rigby in Peter Pan.  Laura choreographed this show as well as played Peter--an endeavor she'd probably never repeat--not that she didn't enjoy both aspects but doing both at the same time was extremely demanding and very tiring. I wish you all could have seen her as Peter Pan.  It may be hard to imagine that someone as feminine as Laura could play a mischievous boy who won't grow up but it was just phenomenal. The people from ZFX became avid Laura fans and I have heard since that they all heard about and watched the "Grease" show on TV--calling in magnanimously to vote for her.  If the opportunity would ever arise for Laura to audition for this part on Broadway I would hope she would consider it. It is an extremely physically exhausting role (in Laura's words, "My gosh, being a boy is so exhausting!  All that jumping around--never sitting still, running from one side of the stage to the other... I would never want to be a boy!") but what a treat to the eyes to watch her.  A magnificent production from this biased mother's eyes.  Anyway, at the end of July last year was when she also auditioned for "Grease" at our local Chanhassen Dinner theatre.  And one day when she most needed a pick-me-up, they called right before she left for an evening show of Peter Pan to tell her they wanted her to play Sandy.  Laura was so relieved and was as pleased as she could be!  Earlier that spring Laura had taken on the internal debate of whether or not to return to college after her year of being a performing apprentice at the Children's Theatre Company. She had enjoyed college for her one year she'd gone, but in some ways had had so many spectacular performing opportunities growing up in Minneapolis that it felt like a partial step backwards and somewhat of a delay to her ultimate dreams.  So she decided to just go for the dreams and keep auditioning and not return to college at least for now.  So when Peter Pan was going to be over she was experiencing what actors experience all the time--the fact that she was going to need another job!  The Chanhassen "Grease" production would run for several months and she'd get paid and have benefits! That was spectacular news! She had also been dating Nathan for 6-7 months and if she didn't know yet for sure if he was "the one," I KNEW!  I actually don't believe it happens very often in life, but Laura's dad and I both felt instant connection to Nathan the day we met him.  He was everything we'd been praying for for years--a man I think God designed for Laura.  So that's how our lives looked a year ago. We got no hint about the Grease TV show or auditions for it until a little later into the fall.