Proud Of Your Boy

This marking the day before the 2nd anniversary of Ma2’s passing, I have made a promise to myself to annually honor her memory around this time.  To paraphrase one of my favorite quotes: She’s really not gone as long as we remember her.  May sound sappy to some but Emily really was like a second mother to me.  A strong, courageous woman… in fact the strongest and most courageous I have ever known.  I can still remember our last conversation over the phone.  We were to meet the next day to discuss my new found friends and my then anticipation of going to the big city.  Unfortunately, she had just found out that she was going to be returning to Columbus for another extended stay at the James.  Little did I know that this would be the last conversation we would have.  She was so determined to beat the leukemia.  I believe her words were: “I’m going to kick this thing in the ()”  I knew that if anyone could, it was her.  She also told me how proud she was in how far I had come in my theatrical ventures and pleaded with me to not give up.  That I had finally allowed myself to let my candle be uncovered by that bushel basket.  “He knows what he is talking about.”

Proud of Your Boy.  I believe that I have posted about the “lost song” from Disney’s Aladdin that was shall I say a prayer sung by the title character to his mother.  I believe that the mother was written out in order to better portray the hero as being a “worthless street rat” with only his companion Abu by his side.  I think it is much more than a simple prayer.  I believe that deep down inside us all there is that little bit of ourselves that feels a need to prove to someone (be it a parent, other relative, close friend, mentor, whatever… perhaps even ourselves) that we are more than the sum of our parts.  That we will get over these “lousin up, messin up, screwin up times.”

I am so glad that with the release of the Platinum Edition DVD, the song was pulled from the archives.  It really is a gem as sung by Clay Aiken.  That tells you how long it has been since its release…. he hasn’t really been in the spotlight for a few years.  I was lucky enough to be able to work on the piece while Emily was still (physically) guiding me.

I LOVE the orchestral accompaniment and the screen playing scenes in the background. HMMM…

Love you, Ma