Life's Like That

This is how my life has changed: My daughter is flying home from New York and my son spent the day on a movie set.
For those of you with young children, this is hard to imagine. I have two living, breathing teenagers and it’s still hard to wrap by brain around it. Imagine the confluence of events that led to my daughter being in Manhattan and my son reporting to make-up and wardrobe at 6:00am.
I can say in all honesty that I never anticipated writing the sentence “My daughter is flying home from New York and my son spent the day on a movie set.” The first part isn’t all that mid-boggling. School trips at spring break are commonplace, and aside from some beach, NYC is a desirable destination. Still, it’s a little unnerving to call my baby girl (Well, not a baby anymore!) on her cell phone on a Saturday night and ask, “Where are you, honey?” and hear, “Times Square.” It happened last Saturday. She’s been sending photos home. My daughter on the observation deck at the Empire State Building, Ground Zero, Ellis Island, Wall Street, Little Italy, ChinaTown, Harlem, Broadway! I’m amazed and envious at the same time.
To understand the improbability of the second circumstance, you have to know my son. When he played youth sports (he’s staunchly retired for years now), he absolutely hated to be the object of attention. We were not allowed to cheer while using his name. We were restricted to a subtle “thumbs-up.” That’s how I really knew he’d never be a sports star. But, a movie star?
We’re a long way from that, too. Believe it or not, Shreveport has become some kind of a film hub. Sandra Bullock, Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher, Kevin Costner and many other household names are cruising around town making movies. There are TV shows in production here, too. There’s a new show on FX called “Thief,” which debuted last Tuesday. The pilot was shot mostly in New Orleans. But, after Hurricane Katrina, the whole operation was moved here. In the previews, Shreveport sites were easily detectable to the familiar eye.
Mr. Teen Angst was sitting at home with no specific spring break plans when his phone rang. Somebody who knows somebody who knows him is working with a casting agency in town (Yeah, a casting agency in Shreveport). A Lifetime made-for-cable movie is in production, and they needed teenage extras. So, he rolled out of the rack at 5:15am for a 6:00 cast call, and there you have it.
I don’t think he’s been bitten by the film bug, though. He said there’s a lot of sitting around followed by doing the same thing over and over. Of course, any film veteran knows that. He may be complaining, but it’s easy money. He played a skater-boy. Maybe it wasn’t so easy, after all.
I’ll just be glad when everybody gets home and life returns to normal. Although, I suspect as they get older and life presents itself to them in a broader fashion, we will constantly be redefining “normal.”

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