Joining the Late Bloomers Club...

Dreams still come true. They just take a little growing into, sometimes.

First, a little background. For those of you who don't know me all that well, things fell apart a year and a half ago. I'd been building a coaching business with my then-boyfriend, living in NYC in a fairly decent apartment share, working a fairly good "B" job and had been coaching actors and singers for years. Every few years, I'd have enough money saved and raised to do some Off-Off Broadway. It was not my ideal life, but it was workable. Compromises had been made on the dream, but fragments of the dream were still there.

Then it all fell apart.

I won't bore you with details. I might bore you with the result, but tough. It was about a six-month process. When the dust from various events settled a year ago -- almost to the day -- I found myself kicked out by the roommate, unemployed, back in Boston and suddenly single. Because of the economy, my quick-cash fallback skills were useless. The boyfriend had bailed without much explanation. I did not press the issue and refused to do the "let's be friends" nonsense.

Instead, I followed Gerald Murphy's guidance that living well is the best revenge. In my job hunt I noticed that every job I was interested in required an MA. So, I took the GRE exam. (Some women react to a break-up by shopping, others by drinking. I took the GREs.) And now - a moment to brag- my verbal score was in the top 10%! Math? Well, we won't discuss math. I have enough math to budget a show and pay my vendors. Enough said.

Then I applied to Emerson College. My choice was determined by several things. Yes, there was the recommendation of family and friends, but mainly you can hardly open a newspaper or look at a theatre program without seeing an Emerson grad. These people are serious about preparing their students for the working world. Emerson also owns several working theatres, showing their focus is on the professional world. Also, I felt a sense of consonance with their vision.

Drumroll, please! I have just received my acceptance for Emerson's MA program in Theatre Education!

I may turn out to be the oldest student in the classes -- I don't really care. There's a lot to be said for being a late bloomer. Deep in my life, I know I wasn't ready for this before -- big dreams especially take a lot of growing-into. My life simply was not big enough before.

Also, I wasn't clear on my own personal definition of success. It's very important to know what your own vision is. I'd been led by other people's opinions for too long. When it all fell apart, there was just me and my emerging vision. There was no one to be accountable to and gradually the path to grad school and teaching full time -- on the college level -- chrystallized.

At my age, I know it doesn't always go as we plan. But I do know that I have made more progress on my dream in this last year than I have in all the time I spent in NYC.