It’s 1 am and I can’t sleep.  So, I write.  My friend Joey just posted this picture on Facebook: Oh yeah – a playbill of our college production of “Hamlet”.  I remember my heart beating out of my chest when it was announced Baylor would be tackling this juggernaut of plays.  I promptly threw myself into winning the role of Ophelia.  I even grew my hair out over the summer, Crystal Gayle style (as if that mattered, funny how the mind works) – and made it my JOB to be everywhere Dr. Peters was so he would give me the chance.  Lo and behold, that next school year, after days of strenuous auditions, we entered into that seemingly endless time of waiting for the cast list to be posted.  You wanna talk about terrifying??  Sometimes we would lurk in the greenroom or outside our professor’s doors, just waiting to catch a glimpse of that crisp (and emotionally charged) piece of paper.  The details are now fuzzy – after all, this was over 13 years ago – but I do remember someone might have seen it first and shrieked.  Whatever happened, when my name came into view I’m quite certain that the rest of the world faded away.  You know what it meant to see your name up there?  Possibility.  All that untapped potential, just waiting to be harnessed and directed and collaborated with.  Memories with your dearest friends, time spent in conversation, coffee or beer in hand.  Hard work, excitement, butterflies, and applause.  Such a wonderful cocktail for an ambitious and determined 21 year old and her need for the stage.  Ophelia is one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragic female characters.  Watch Helena Bonham Carter or Kate Winslet in the role and you’ll see. I decided to name this blog “Almost Juliet…” a year ago because Juliet is a role I haven’t yet had the chance to play.  A massive, unrealized dream of mine…so much so that when I think about it sometimes my heart aches just a little bit.  And I suppose that might never really go away. Funnily enough, just as Joey posted the picture of our Hamlet’s playbill, I scrolled down a little bit and caught a glimpse of something (or should I say someone) else: …and of course, this someone too: How easily I forget that my two greatest “creations” are asleep in their beds upstairs. The lady doth protest too much, methinks.