I will just copy my latest AmazonConnect blog onto here:

Few things in life are more filled with sentiment than the senior year in high school when friends know each annual event is the last one.  Perhaps the only ones these sad farewell events affect more than the students are the parents and grandparents who watch these seniors and are only too aware of the changes coming much too soon.

 Three delightful performances of the musical Snoopy by the Freeport High School speech students made this grandmother both happy and sad.  These shows were filled with enormous talent and also all the intense emotions that came with knowing this group of long-time friends was on the boards together for the last time.

I was privileged to enjoy all three nights, and yes I shed a few tears along with the students and their parents.  I doubt that anyone was more aware of the enormity of the giftedness of these young thespians than their director Tim Connors, who has recognized, nurtured, honed, and trained these kids’ gifts to the level the audience so enjoyed last week in the Jeannette Lloyd Theater.

 No grandmother could have been prouder than I was as Leslie played Snoopy and jumped off that dog house in center stage again and again to wow the audience.  I could not have agreed with her more than when she sang the words,  “I’m the big bow wow….”  I know how hard she has worked down through the years.   However, I also know how hard those other great kids have worked, and their songs and acting were equally impressive.  They were all big bow wows in my book:   Ryan as Linus, Eric as Charley Brown, Veronica as Lucy, Rhiannon as Sally Brown,  Libby as Peppermint Patty, and Katie as Woodstock.   

When Woodstock would droop wings and show disappointment, my own heart would break.  When Peppermint Patty sang “Poor Sweet Baby,” I fell in love with young lovers.  When Lucy imagined how great it would be to be told sweet nothings by a special someone, I felt the same way.  Those innocent wholesome siblings Charley and Sally made me know their parents were as proud of them as I was watching my own kids grow up. And when Linus could look into the cloud formations  and imagine all twelve apostles waving at him, he made me laugh and I have been laughing ever since at the memory.

 Erich Moderow as Pig Pen did not say a word  but definitely added to the show.  He was  almost a symbol of all the kids who have been willing to work back stage for performance after performance doing all the hard work and letting others take the applause:  Jake Ensign, Emily Beach, Chloe Jansen, Casey Bonner, Elise Brubaker, Kristine Guinther,  Kelsey Achterberg, Robert Alberts, Benjamin Bales, Brandon Byrne, Rachel Cawkins, Joshua DeLander, Kylara Donaldson, Shanika Fane, Joycelyn Lamm, Mary Mason, David Myers, Ronald Oxley, Zachary Peterson, Linsey Phillips, Joshua Pillow, Jordan Ruthe, Jacob Schemel, Kyle Stichter, Tamarra Vilces, Zachariah Winker, Halley Lapinski, Allison Sutton, and Elijah Eiler.   If I counted correctly, that is 29 students who were willing to work so that others might shine and their school could continue its outstanding reputation as a producer of good theater.  I probably also should mention that our youngest granddaughter Cecelie Eiler got into the act helping out Elijah in passing out the adorable miniature Snoopy dogs to the small children in attendance. Because the program listed a pit band consisting of Jake Ensign on piano, Evan Schrock on drums, Alexa Janicke on  guitar, and Brian Nissen on bass, I had to ask Jeannie what these kids did.  The music accompaniment  from backstage was so fine throughout the performances that I thought surely it was taped.  Jeannie assured me that these four young musicians produced what I was hearing.  I was amazed at their professionalism. 

Not only are the arts in good shape at Freeport, but I arrived home just in a nick of time last night to accompany Gerald to the Marion Civic Center, where grandson Samuel with his trombone joined other Unit 2 musicians at a band concert climaxing a Band Day there.  The performances were very impressive from the youngest in the fifth grade band and the new Creal Springs band through the junior high band and the large high school group that ended the concert with a splendid rendition of John Phillip Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever.”

 I am indeed pleased that the future of our stars and stripes and all it stands for is in the hands of such dedicated young people as I have had the pleasure of seeing and hearing this week.