The Passing of the Torch

Last week was a bittersweet milestone for me, or rather, for me and my 6 year old son.

He had secured himself a role in his school's production of "Oliver!" Over the course of the rehearsals his role had been increased to the point where, considering his age, it was a pretty significant sized part.

The night of his performance came, and we watched with eager anticipation as my son came out and put his acting chops to the test. After the first scene there was little doubt that he has inherited his father's flair for the stage. At one point, a fellow actress delivered her line and received a sizeable laugh from the audience which overwhelmed my son's delivery of his punchline. Without missing a beat, he waited for the laughs to subside, and then repeated his line, resulting in another round of laughter from the audience. I asked the director if she had taught him about holding for the laugh, and she said that they had discussed it once, and just briefly.

"He's a natural," the director said enthusiastically. "He's really good."

After the show, the praise from the audience continued; my son was pretty overwhelmed by the outpouring of congratulations and compliments. I remembered my senior high school production of "A Christmas Carol" where I received similar accolades, and I realized with a twinge of sadness that the spotlight was slowly shifting focus from me to my young son.

We celebrated by going to our local Chili's, which is one of his favorites. Over dinner, we engaged in another favorite pastime, chess. I taught it to him at an early age and he's gotten quite good, having already entered a tournament and nearly placing. I myself was the school champ in 5th and 6th grade - the 1st to ever win both years, so I'm hardly a slouch in the game.

That night, however, his play was awesome, and after a blunder on my part he had me. I was forced to resign.

The torch had truly passed.

Despite a slight twinge of sadness, I am excited. He has so much ahead of him, and enormous gifts to bring to bear to all the challenges that lay ahead. In a way, I'm envious of all he has, and in another, I'm proud to think that I had something to do with his accomplishments thus far and yet to come. I can only hope as the torch passes that I am granted the opportunity to watch him carry it boldly forward and illuminate the paths that I have failed to tread myself.