In thy Valley, There'll be Love!

Brigadoon, Brigadoon,

Looming under sable skies.

Brigadoon, Brigadoon,

There my heart forever lies.

Let the world grow cold around us, 

Let the heavens cry above!

Brigadoon, Brigadoon,

In thy valley, there'll be love!

Two summers ago, I lived in Scotland. My uncle and four sisters lived with me, and we were very happy. The day of Charlie and Jean's wedding, two strangers named Jeff and Tommy appeared in our village. They surprised and startled us, because strangers were not supposed to find us. Tommy met Jean's sister, Fiona, and he fell in love with her. My uncle talked to Jeff and Tommy and he told them about the miracle of our village: our village only exists one day out of every hundred years, in order to avoid the corruption of the world around us. Understandably, Jeff and Tommy were very confused. In the end, Tommy believed it, but Jeff did not. Jeff returned to his home in a strange place called New York and Tommy stayed here in our village and married Fiona.

Let me clarify, two summers ago, I was in a musical called Brigadoon with a local theatre camp. This was my sixth musical with this particular camp. Normally, I was shy around new people at these camps, but this year I felt braver and I met many new people. Because I participated in Brigadoon, I experienced two intense weeks of rehearsals which lead up to our performances, and I made a plethora of new friendships.

During the first week of rehearsals, the major/minor roles learned their specific parts. I was a featured dancer, so my fellow featured dancers and I learned a complicated ballet. The other girls were very kind and loving and all of us got along well. We wore skirts during the rehearsals to "practice" what it would be like once we had our costumes. The swishy-ness of the skirts was so much fun! *Giggles.*

During the second week, I felt very comfortable with my new friends. New people who were in the chorus joined us this week, and there was no jealousy between any of the actors. When I wasn't a featured dancer, I was a part of the chorus and that was a blast. We were encouraged to invent our back stories, and we went crazy with it. As I mentioned before, I had four sisters and an uncle (these were assigned to me at the beginning of the week.) We were the "Lundy Clan." My sisters and I went to live with Uncle Lundy once our parents died. Uncle Lundy was quite old, so he made us all of his nieces take care of the farm for him. And, uh, my sister Melinda accidentally ran over our cow with the plow, so our poor cow only had three legs. According to the script, one of my sisters, Maggie, was in love with Harry, who was in love with Jean, who was marrying Charlie. Talk about a mess!

Before each rehearsal, one of the actors or actresses would lead a devotional. They would read a passage of Scripture for us and then pray for our day of rehearsal. Our goal was to glorify God with our acting.

Finally, the days of the performances arrived. I was very excited to preform and didn't have any stage fright. Our costumes were beautiful (and heavy, mine weighed maybe 15 pounds) and the set was gorgeous. All of the actors encouraged each other and wished each other "good luck!" The lead roles encouraged the chorus and the chorus encouraged them back. It was such a positive experience. The unity among the actors was very strong. I don't think I've ever been a part of a group that unified.

Between the two Saturday performances, we went to Chick-fil-a to eat and to hang out. That was so much fun!

Before each showing, we would meet on the stage behind the curtain and form a "circle of love." We gave shout-outs (compliments) to people who we thought had been doing fantastic and shared feedback that we had gotten about the shows. Then it would be about time to open the curtains for the next show, and we would run to our places and wait anxiously for our cues.

After each show, once the final curtain was drawn we would all holler and yell and do our Scottish cheer. We hugged each other and told each other "Good job," or "You were amazing!"

I made so many amazing friends during my two weeks of Brigadoon. We still keep in touch via Facebook. We've also had a few reunion parties, which have been delightful. I miss all of my Briga-friends so much. Each one of them has impacted my life and I will never forget them. Unfortunetly, there wasn't a musical camp this past summer, so I haven't seen some of my Briga-friends since our Christmas get-together. Whenever I do see one of them, however, it is like no time has passed. An indiscribable peace covers us and I feel at home with them. I think that's what happens any time people who love God gather together and strive to glorify Him with their gifts. I'm so thankful to have been a part of my Briga-family.

Because I experienced Brigadoon, and the joy, peace, love, and unity that came with it, my life has been changed. I know that I have forever-friends with each of the people who were in that musical, and that nothing can shake the bond between us.

Nothing.

Not a distance of miles.

Not even if we only can see each other once in a hundred years.

An introduction of sorts

Hey there.
This is my first blog post.
Ever.
I'm kinda intimidated by that thought. I'm scared too. Like, that's the underlying fear, what if people don't like what I say? It's probably why I haven't taken up blogging yet, although I've always thought it was a good idea.
Confession: I don't know what this blog as a whole is going to be about. Am I allowed to admit that I don't have this blog thing figured out? "Honesty is the best policy," right? *bits lip and continues.*

Lets see, I suppose I shall introduce myself more. (I know that there's the "About Me" section somewhere around my blog, but a full introduction will be much more fun.)

My name is Annabelle Grace, but I go by Belle. Belle is my favorite Disney princess (and of course Elsa is my favorite Disney queen *winks*), but not just because she shared my name. I'm sure I'll do a post about my love for Disney later sometime. I am eighteen years old. Wow, that's such a weird thought. I'm an adult now y'all. That's strange; I feel like I'm still twelve...

I attend a small Christian university that isn't too far away from my hometown. I recently have completed reading the Harry Potter series, and so I like to pretend that I'm at Hogwarts. But, alas, it is not Hogwarts. Sad day, right? I wish it was Hogwarts so bad. Anywho, I love it here at the University of Not Hogwarts so much. Campus is beautiful and there are trees everywhere and soft, soft, grass. I'm telling you, the grass here is one of my favorite things ever. I love walking to class. I love the exercise of it, and the fact that I get to be outside, and I love that several of my friends pass me on their way from or to class (Yay small school!).

As far as mi familia goes, I have a mommy and a daddy whom I love very much. I also have a little brother, Ky. Ky is fourteen, nearly fifteen now, and a freshman in high school. He is also about a head taller than me now, which is hard to get used to. He likes playing football, and he's awesome at it. He has a great heart and loves serving Jesus. I also must say that he's a definite goober. He makes me laugh so much. We also have a cat, Nemo, and a dog, Gracie. Gracie loves Nemo so much. However, Nemo can't stand Gracie, so that makes our traditional-family-Christmas-picture-with-the pets a challenge.

My favorite animal is a duck. I love them so much. They're so cute when the waddle and quack and flutter their feathers as they dive for food. Feeding ducks is one of my favorite things to do. There's a creek by Not Hogwarts University and I like to go there sometimes with some bread and feed the beautiful ducks. Ducks are just so, so, happy. *sigh.*
I also like the color pink, and I like musicals, and cookie dough, and mint chocolate chip ice cream. (Speaking of which, I just remembered I have some mint chocolate chip ice cream in my freezer. Yum!)
I like singing. I like country dancing. I'm addicted to Pinterest (Follow me!!). I like reading and playing my ukulele named Barcelona and coloring in my Disney princess coloring books. Coloring is such a great thing. It's a stress reliever, its a comfort when I'm sad, it's just amazing all together.

Yup, so that's me in a nutshell. I'll talk to y'all again soon.

Blessings,
Belle