I was conflicted while watching Imogen’s soft-lit face yesterday during the Black River High School production of Momma Mia. The production was just that, a high school production—mostly enjoyed by a very gracious audience wanting to cheer them on. There were some talented kids—one or two standout kids could really act and could maybe be on broadway one day but more it is more likely they would take a semester in New York but would soon after take a job in a position that required creativity and the whole New York experience would be a talking point that would not age well… this is becoming quite a digression.
But back to Imogen’s face, lit up by the soft scattered lights reflecting from the spotlight hitting the stage—light that would make a great photo. On the stage they were singing the song Imogen knew, her mouth moving, reflecting the song. I was conflicted because I loved this moment but I was also compelled to record this because it is moments like these that make me about as happy as I can remember being. This happiness has a more perfunctory feeling in the moment but I am old enough to know that this is worth holding on to.
Margo often brings me joy when she is bubbling with happiness; she giggles and the joy spills right out of her. For Imogen, I love to see her focus—this is how she engages. She studies and watches, she always has. I can see the details of the song play out on her face as she participates in the song she now knows (because she listened to it 3x on repeat before the show, carefully studying the words so that she could learn and repeat them). This side of Imogen that brings me joy is harder to see, it is complex but present when you watch her face. It comes out in subtle micro expressions. She fixates, then smiles a little, then repeats and focuses as everything from the stage reflects on her still young face, a sure foreshadowing and possibly her motivation for why she takes it all in so seriously.
So yesterday was a good day. And good days are not often exciting days, they are just a series of more pleasant than not things that happen in the company of my daughters who are only growing up. The days a tempered in that knowledge but not overtaken in the mourning of their aging and admittedly my aging as well.
We had a soccer game for Imogen in the morning, we went to Happenstance in Douglas for lunch and then on to the play. Sushi and a movie when we got home.
There are a few photos below, but as I have said I have no photo from the play. Maybe I should have taken one before or after or maybe I should have interrupted the moments of watching Imogen sing along.
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