Were there nerves involved in being on stage yesterday during the Heart of Life benefit show at the Leonardo da Vinci center? Yup, some, but not overwhelming! 🙂 It turned out to be quite something, though!
We got there at 2pm so we could do some walk-throughs and watch the singers rehearse. I had practiced my speech in english but when I got there I was asked to do it in french! ack! Okay, no problem, it sounded fine in my head… and then we got to the practice and I stammered. bleah. The singer (Guy) who was going to lead us into the speeches just told me to do it in english and he would translate afterwards 🙂 Deal! 🙂
We went downstairs to the changing rooms/ lounge and waited for the show to begin. Kyle was with Chantale’s parents and Charlize was with us being a really sociable little 8-month old 🙂 The show was set to begin at 3pm and she was actually started to get tired/ finicky at that point but the action kept her awake. We lined up behind the curtains and midway into the first song, we followed the head of cardiology and our nurse onto the stage, singing along to “All you need is love” 🙂 The opening was to have the children and families who’ve undergone heart surgery interacting and “showing” that we’re all just regular people.
At the end of the song, we walked off the stage and took our seats as the “story” unfolded on the stage. Chantale and I took the opportunity to go to our purchased seats (as opposed to the ones in the front of the stage reserved for us) to see Kyle and get some milk and crackers for Charlize. Before we knew it, song #3 – What a Wonderful World, came on and we made our way back to the stage.
The song ended and Guy welcomed everyone and introduced those of us who were to speak. During the rehearsals and talks, I had cut down my part in order to keep things moving and lively, but this is what the full speech was to be:
“Hello. This is Charlize. At 9 days old our lives were shattered when we were told she would need surgery to fix a defect with her heart. After living with a Smurf-Blue baby for 2 months, she became part of The Zipper Club on the date of our Wedding Anniversary when Dr. Tchervenkov and his team repaired her heart during a complex surgery. Today, at 8 months old, she’s a regular, feisty little girl who tries to chase after her puppy and older siblings”
In the update, I simply left out the Smurf part and the Wedding Anniversary note. The rest stayed in and let me tell you that I spoke while looking at the Doctor (Beland) and Nurse (Devon) because I knew they would flip at The Zipper Club mention and sure enough they did! 🙂
After my bit, we walked off the stage while Guy translated quickly. We took the first seats by the stage and watched the rest of the show that way with Kyle sitting in Chantale’s lap and me rocking Charlize by the side of the speakers. I finally managed to dance her into a nap 🙂
The end of the show came way too quickly and we once more made our way up there to be joined by all the singers, dancers, and other children/ families to sing along to the theme song: “Heart of Life”. The curtains closed and we all thanked, chatted, laughed, as we said our good-byes. It was great having the eldest girl who spoke come tell us how much she laughed at the Zipper mention. “Well, you’re all part of that elite club after all” I told her and the eldest boy 🙂
After collecting our jackets, we decided to go visit my parents. We had a great meal – lots of fresh wine, meats, fruits… we stuffed ourselves and my parents had an absolute blast seeing the kids 🙂 When we finally left at 7pm, they immediately fell asleep in the car…
A really, really, really great day… 🙂 I’m SO looking forward to seeing the recorded show on DVD!!! 🙂