First, I was dealing with the fact that I had gone to bed at 11:00 p.m. and woken up at 3:00 a.m. Add to that the fact that I’d had very little sleep for the five days before that.

I miss my bed.

I miss my wife.

I miss my family.

My classes went great. I feel so privileged to work with these teachers. Their dedication to mastering new skills so they can pass them on to their students is inspiring.

Today they started working on multi-person scenes using the games Entrances and Exits and Oscar-Winning Moment. From there, I had them doing four-person scenes in the style of Shakespeare, with characters entering and exiting, then stepping out for short little monologues or asides whenever they wanted to reveal what their characters were truly feeling to the audience.

It was so much fun to watch, and they were having a blast.

Before lunch, the Army 129th Band performed for us. They pointed out to us How many of them were current music teachers.

At one point, a very large and intimidating man stepped up to the microphone. As he began to sing, his voice was not what I expected. Out poured this beautiful tenor that filled the theater.

Then we broke for lunch…

Because there’s always food.

There’s food everywhere.

Then we got to hear composer Marc Shaiman speak about his life and his collaborations with stars like Billy Crystal, Martin Short, and Steve Martin. He talked about creating the music for the musical Hairspray and about how music had changed his life.

Like all of the special guests they’ve brought in, his story was poignant, heartfelt, and incredibly funny. His timing was flawless.

I just wish I could stop crying during these presentations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Shaiman

I have to talk about the staff at the Tennessee Arts Academy. They have worked tirelessly to curate an event unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. They have taken such incredible care of me, my fellow instructors, and especially the attendees. They genuinely want everyone to have an amazing week, and the amount of work they put into making that happen is nothing short of incredible.

After my last class, they rushed us back to the hotel so we could change into our finest and whisked us away to what they call the Bravo Gala.

I got to my room, took the fastest shower of my life, and made myself all pretty.

I broke a shoelace on my dress shoes. Do you know what you can’t find at 6 pm when you’re in a rush to get ready? A new pair of shoelaces. I managed to make the broken shoelace work for the evening and ended up being the last one down to the passenger van.

Off we went to another very special event.

Marc Shaiman was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Schools and teachers were honored for their work, and then Broadway star Betsy Wolfe, who has appeared in musicals such as & Juliet and Death Becomes Her, performed for us.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betsy_Wolfe

Turns out, she’s from Visalia, California. Small world.

I was so exhausted.

I started dozing off at the table.

Now, what’s bad about that is she decided to come down into the audience and start interacting with people.

Luckily, she never noticed me nodding off. Had she seen me, I am certain I would have become part of a show I very much did not want to be in.

Once the gala was over, we took the longest ride back to the hotel that I have ever experienced.

Not because they decided to drive to the hotel by way of Maine and then back to Tennessee…

…but because my body simply could not comprehend why it wasn’t already in bed.

After dragging my sorry ass up to my room, I passed out.

Instead of waking up at 3:00 a.m. this morning, my body was generous enough to let me sleep until 4:10.

Weeeeee!