Morgan

taken from here

My middle daughter, Morgan, is an arteest. She's primarily into theatre, although she also paints and writes fabulously. After she graduated from High School, she moved to LA to pursue her lifelong dreams of "making it." She went to an Arts Academy then started working at a coffee shop to support herself.

She joined a theatre troupe. Most of the others in the troupe are older and more experienced than she is. She went through lots when she first started. She felt inadequate. Part of her process was that she had to come to terms with her anger around the fact that I was too busy to be a "soccer mom" when she was young. Not that she was into soccer, but I didn't cart her to various voice, dance and acting lessons when she was a kid.

In the end, she took the high road and remembered that people will create their lives in the ways they want them. There are plenty of people who get a later start in life and to sit and blame the past gets you nowhere. She's a pretty amazing person and in a very short time she came out stronger, seeing that all she needed to do in this situation was to just forgive herself for not being where she wanted to be (like she doesn't have an Oscar yet) and to be gentle with herself for not being "better" at acting because she is learning. That once she starts putting herself into something she ALWAYS masters, excels and shines in it.

I am so exceedingly proud of her for following her dreams. It is not always easy and given that she is, of course, a drama queen, I get plenty of anguished phone calls. She gets so caught up in things not being perfect from time to time, feeling like "her life is over" and she will never get to her goal. Each time we have to revisit that she IS accomplishing everything she dreamed of and is actually ahead of schedule. And, each month these phone calls get less and less frequent. She is becoming surer of herself as she takes her steps, one by one, and lives her dreams.

I admire all those who stick to something and perfect it- overcoming incredible odds both inside and out. Of the two, I see the biggest hurdles being the inner ones. The things we tell ourselves to not shine! I stand in awe of my daughter for, in the end, always keeping her sparkle no matter what's in front of her.