I’m lucky because I have a passion. Something that ignites a spark of happiness inside me and puts a smile across my face. Something that I have an overwhelming, uncontrollable love for. My passion is acting.

It was the summer of 2004 and I was 9 years old. My hair was long and dirty blonde, and my face had a smile splatter on it all summer. I was going to be in my first real play, which was something I had always wanted to do. The night before I was so nervous I couldn’t sleep. I picked out my clothes and watched TV, picturing myself on the screen. I knew I was going to have fun, but I had no idea what to expect.

I woke up at 7 am on a hot Monday morning at the end of August. I did the usual, I ate, brushed my teeth, got dressed and had my mom do my hair. I then got into the car and went to the town hall. My mom and I walk up the long steps and into the building. The acting camp was taking place in a big open room, that looked like a gym, but it had a stage in it. I walked in and there were kids and their parents everywhere.

I found a couple of kids I knew from school and quickly joined their group. We were looking at our scripts and discussing the characters we all wanted to be. The play was called “Collection of Fairy Tales” and from the beginning, I wanted to be Georgie Porgie. I knew he was a guy, but the character just interested me so much, for a reason I still don‘t know. He also had a good amount of lines and I wanted to say as much as I could.

The parents all left and all 30 of us got in a big circle. We played “getting-to-know-you” games and learned each others names. We then split up to groups and auditioned for the characters we wanted. I will never forget the excitement I felt when I found out I got the role of Georgie Porgie. It is unexplainable, but just imagine one thing you were excited to find out, times it by 10 and that’s what it felt like.

The rest of the week was filled with blocking the play and creating the scenery. Blocking is placing everyone where they will need be and need to move during the show. It was a lot of work, but it all paid off when we performed the play, on stage, in costumes, in front of all our family and friends.

Since that day, acting has been my one true love. It is the one thing that hasn’t changed in my life. I need it to survive