“I am an actress!” 5-yr-old Mary exclaimed with conviction. Her blonde ringlets fell around her face giving each passerby the feeling of an angel in their mist. She twirled around again and again in her tutu. It didn’t matter that she wore the tutu every day over her normal outfit of pants and a tee-shirt. To her, she was an illustrious actress, performing before the most important person in the world. Her voice bellowed with lines of her current favorite performance – Cinderella. She was a star. She was on top of the world!

Mary grew older and with that, her plans grew too. She traded in her tutu for a school backpack, but kept her optimism for her dream. Some day, she would be a fabulous actress, playing before the most important person in the world. She practiced her acting in school plays and took dance and drama lessons. People would watch her and smile; she had that kind of impact on everyone.

Graduating from high school, she realized that now was not the time to pursue her dream…yet. She went on to college but had to work nights at a local restaurant to pay for it. Her parents could not help out because they were raising her other brothers and sisters. She kept thinking in her heart, “I’ll make it some day. I just need to wait a little while longer.”

During her last year at college, Mary was offered an opportunity to act in a theatre production in New York City. She was ecstatic! Her dream was finally becoming reality. Her enthusiasm was shattered when she got a phone call that her father was ill and she would need to come back to her childhood home to help her mother take care of him. “Oh well,” she thought. “I can be an actress later. I’ll help my father for now.” Putting her tutu away with her dreams seemed an easy decision when faced with helping her father.

She settled down in her town, met a wonderful man and fell in love. Their marriage was beautiful and the love in their eyes shone brightly with confidence in their future. “I will act later, once my career is solid and the school debts are paid off,” she proclaimed. “There will be time.”

Before long, Mary was thrilled that they were bringing into their family a new baby! Between the midnight feedings and lack of sleep, there was no time for acting. “That’s okay,” she mused. “There will be more time for that later.” She focused on making a home for her family, helping to pay the bills, and planning for the future.

Years later, Mary realized that her son was going off to college. Where had the time gone? She had never had the time to pursue her dream of acting. “Maybe after I help him pay for college I can act in the local theatre groups,” she thought. So she waited.

One of the happiest days of her life was when her son brought home their first granddaughter. She glanced down at the smiling face, surrounded by blonde ringlets and smiled. She could always act later, she thought. She wouldn’t give up this time of holding her grandchild for anything. She didn’t mind babysitting this beautiful child so her son and his wife could save some money for their new family.

She heard a shuffling from the other room and walked in. There was her grandchild, now 5, wearing a pink tutu over her pants and tee-shirt, twirling in repeated circles. “GRANDMA!” she screamed, and ran over to throw her arms around Mary. Mary picked her up and twirled her in the air, to a chorus of giggles. “Grandma, can you read me a story?” her grandchild pleaded.

“Of course,” Mary exclaimed and reached down to pick up the book Cinderella, her favorite since she was a little girl. She read each word with feeling and acted out each scene with her little darling granddaughter. At the end, she sat back in the chair. A feeling of understanding flooded over her. She had not missed out on anything. Looking at the admiring eyes of her grandchild she realized, at that moment, she was the greatest actress in the world. She had just performed before the most important person in the world. She scooped up her grandchild and gave her a giant hug. Her life was complete. She couldn’t ask for anything more!