I can't say that we've totally come down from the high of Monday night. Our Facebook news feeds, inboxes and text messages have been flooded with messages of congratulations, love, support and shared excitement. It has been overwhelming in the best way and Josh and I feel incredibly blessed to have such a wonderful network of family and friends who are sharing in this unbelievable journey with us. We share all of these sentiments of love and amazement with Cory and are using this as a teachable moment about blessings, humility, and gratitude, for which we are all feeling.
When we woke up on Tuesday morning Josh and I talked all about Monday night in complete disbelief. "Did that really just happen?" We were saying how it felt like the morning after our wedding. We remembered planning and anticipating our wedding and then it finally came and was the most spectacular day of our lives. Every part of the ceremony and reception was amazing and our faces hurt from smiling so much. We had those same feelings on Tuesday morning, the only difference was, Cory was going to do it all over again that night (and the next, and the next). I said to Josh, "is this ever going to feel normal?"
Cory woke up happy and excited to head back into the city for day two. Michael (his chaperone) picked him up in the morning. No rest for the weary. Before the show, Cory was called for rehearsal. 12:30-1:30pm was a 1:1 music lesson where Cory started learning all the material for the part of Zack that he is understudying. 1:30-3:30pm was band practice, with Cory on guitar for two hours. After that, Cory had a break for a couple of hours. When Michael asked him what he wanted to do, what do you think Cory said? You guessed it! Guitar Center! And off they went for a few more hours of playing music. Cory hit the drums after just having had his fill of guitar.
I met Cory in the city at 5:00pm. I didn't want him to go from having 40 people at the show to no one so I made the BIG SACRIFICE (read utter sarcasm) and planned to go to the show again on Tuesday. After grabbing some dinner, we headed to the stage door. Cory was super excited and much calmer than the night before. I still kept saying to myself, "I can't believe this is happening, I can't believe this is happening". High fives all around as Cory's fellow cast members showed up and then off they went.
I walked over to the CitizenM Hotel (after getting my ticket) and did an hour of work before heading into the theater. There was his name on the board, it wasn't a dream from the night before. It also totally didn't feel normal (not yet anyway). As the theater filled (just about a sold out crowd) and I was sitting there by myself, there was a piece of me that was missing all of the hoopla from the night before. There was another piece of me that was happy to have the chance to see the show in a calmer setting. Afterall, we now knew he could do it. I wondered to myself, "would he be as good?", "would he be as happy?". The answer to both questions was an emphatic "YES!".
Cory did great! He seemed calmer and more relaxed. The few hiccups he had on opening night (which the average person in the audience wouldn't have even realized) he had corrected for night two. He was having a blast up there! Killer finale and then again out the stage door to lots of cheering fans who were waiting for autographs and pictures. And again, I stood there in amazement. My kid was coming out the stage door of the Winter Garden theater after performing his second show. This was real life - but it just doesn't feel like it yet.
This morning Cory was so excited to be going in for his first matinee performance. This was going to be the first time neither Josh or I was going to the show. It felt so strange. We said goodbye to him like we would any other day but he was going to perform on Broadway and we weren't going to see him. How do we do this? This was Cory's and our "new normal". It just doesn't feel normal.
We are lucky to have Michael who brought Cory in and took him home today. And what did Michael do while Cory was performing? Well, today he went to see the show! I needed someone to give me feedback! He said Cory did great and the show was awesome. I'm presuming the novelty will wear off and this will just be the way our lives roll. Josh and I will go to work and, as I wrote in an earlier post, so will Cory. But for now, it feels surreal, it feels awesome, it feels strange....we're just adjusting to the new normal.
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