All the world's a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;

They have their exits and their entrances,

And one man in his time plays many parts,

Shakespeare

     All Actors want that once in a life time role.  The one that pushes them to stardom, the role that lands them that Oscar, the one role that list them among the great actors of our generation.  Isn't that true for all of us?  We play our roles, mother, professional, husband, wife, father, sister, brother, daughter, son.  Have you ever stopped to think what your  "Once in a life time" role is?  When the day comes, and you make your final exist from the "stage" , take your last bow and say good night, what is it you want the audience to say about the roles you have played?

     We've all made mistakes. all of us.  All actors/actresses have that one role they wish they could forget they took,  and none of us want to be remembered for the one awful moment on stage.  So..what are you doing to make everyone forget?  Are you continuing to choose the same roles?  

     I watched an interview with Mathew McConaughey about his Oscar nomination (and win) for best leading actor of the year.  To make a long story short he felt he wasn't getting serious enough roles, that the movies that were coming to him weren't the stories he wanted to tell.  So what did he do?  He started refusing scripts, enjoyed being a dad, and waited for the role he knew would be life changing.  Thank God he did, Dallas Buyers Club showed his true acting ability, proved he wasn't just a pretty face and earned him and Oscar win, a first in his career.  In his Oscar speach Mathew said three things that I think are needed in everyones life.. 

     There's a few things, about three things to my account that i need each day.  One of them is something to look up to, another is to look forward to, and another is someone to chase.  now, first off, I want to thank God.  Cause that's who I look up to.  He has graced my life with opportunities that I know are not of my hand or any other human hand.  He has shown me that it's a scientific fact that gratitude reciprocates.  In the words of the late Charlie Laughton, who said, "when you've got God, you got a friend.  And that friend is you."  To my family, that's who and what I look forward to.  To my Father who, i know he's up there right now with a big pot of gumbo.  he's got a lemon meringue pie over there.  he's probably in his underwear.  And he's got a cold can of miller Lite and he's dancing right now.  To you, Dad, you taught me what it means to be a man.  To my mother who's here tonight, who taught me and my two older brothers.....demanded that we respect ourselves.  And what we in turn learned was that we were then better able to respect others.  Thank you for that mama.  To my wife, Camila, and my kids Levi, Vida and Mr. Stone, the courage and significance you give me every day i go out the door is unparalleled.  you are the four people in my life that i want to make the most proud of me.  Thank you.  And to my hero.  That's who i chase.  now when i was 15 years old, i had a very important person in my life come to me and say "who's your hero?" and I said, "i don't know, I gotta think about that.  Give me a couple of weeks."  i come back two weeks later, this person comes up and says "who's your hero?" I said "i thought about it.  You know who it is?  Its me in 10 years." so I turned 25.  Ten years later, that same person comes to me and says, "so, are you a hero?" and i was like "not even close, no, no, no".  She said, "why?" I said "because my hero's me at 35." So you see every day, every week, every month and every year of my life, my hero's always 10 years away.  I'm never gonna be my hero.  I'm not gonna attain that.  I know i'm not, and that's just fine with me because that keeps me with somebody to keep on chasing., to that I say, "Amen."  To that i say, "Alright, alright, alright." To that i say "just keep living."

     Now, my purpose is not to sell you all on the Dallas Buyers Club (amazing as it was) but to show you something that Mr McConaugh already seems to know.  God is a fantastic ghost writer helping us co-write our play, but we are the play write, we can be our own hero, we can choose the role we play.  We can CHANGE the role we've been playing. With knowlege, thought, a little help and determination, we can set the story we want to live.

     I hope when the day comes when the curtain finally closes on the play of my life the audience will say "she was a good mother, she loved with all her heart, she laughed and made others laugh and she was kind"  I try hard to live my life within this role daily, sometimes I do it without thought, some days I struggle to stay within the role I want to play.....but its always my choice, my life, my stage.

     Don't blame those around you for the way your stage is set, for the role YOU are choosing to play.  A Script change is never easy on the play-write or the actor but its bound to happen.  Write your story, live the role you were meant for.  Find something to look up to.......something to look forward to.......and something to chase...........alright....alright....alright....just keep living.

(and yes, he could have sang row row row your boat and I would have loved it.......I mean LOOK AT HIM!!!!!!)