Braeden's sister

Because Braeden asked his director if she could, Emma was on the crew of Bye Bye Birdie.  Emma loved being part of it.  She said, "Braeden always takes me backstage to meet people and this is the first time I felt like I belonged and wasn't being somewhere I wasn't supposed to be."

Moving the set piece she's in front of, the behemoth upstairs bedroom, was one of Emma's jobs.  From the looks of it, it was pretty heavy.  She's a strong girl and it took all she had and a few other girls to help her.

I could see her urgency and anxiety by her body language when the lights were out and she was moving set pieces.  I always knew which girl was mine.  In one of the performances, something was accidentally removed from the stage and Emma noticed the mistake and quickly brought it back out.

Braeden said she'd saved the show.

He's a big fan of hers but so am I.  When the crew came out the last performance for a curtain call, I stood up and cheered.

"That's my girl!"

(OK, I didn't yell that, but I thought it.)

The last night, for the set strike, there was a list of jobs posted on the stage door.

(It's not unusual for Braeden's name to be misspelled and I don't mind but it is always surprising to me that people misspell Braeden's name Breaden.  Don't they know that when two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking?  Then I remember words like break.  Then I remember that the English language is tricky.  It is not for wimps.)

Emma was slightly irked that she was listed as "Braeden's sister." I told her she could do worse.  And it's true.  On the other hand, we're all hoping a certain teacher of Braeden's (that doesn't appreciate his...humor) will not connect her as Braeden's sister next year.

Sometimes it's nicer to be known as Braeden's sister than other times.