On Thursday, we had lots of pickups at work, all at about the same time. I grabbed the 13 year old and her friend at Chapin, dropped them off at the apartment with the other nanny, and continued in the cab to the West Side for 5-year-old tap class. Tap is probably my favorite kid activity of the week, because I really enjoy talking to one of the other moms, and tap just takes me back to my childhood dance lessons.
I was in the taxi with Maddie and Charlotte (two typical 13-year-old girls), and Maddie said, "Emily why do you want to be an actress?" I responded about how I love it blah blah blah...the answer I give to all of the people who just don't get it. She said, "But there are so many people who want to act and fail. Why do you want to do something that it's so hard to succeed at?" I explained to her that different people measure success differently. She said, "Do you want to be famous?" I said that I absolutely did not because I thought it would be miserable. I explained to her that I really just want to be on stage, and make enough money to support myself doing so. To me, successful actresses are those that can support themselves doing nothing but their art. She said, "If I were an actress and not famous, I'd deem myself a failure." I responded with, "Well it's a good thing you have other aspirations in life." That was the end of our conversation, but it really made me think about why I do what I do, and how I measure success.
Fast forward thirty minutes.
I was folding Marguerite's school clothes at tap class, as she had changed into her blacks and taps. I was chatting with Kathryn, the sweet UES mom that I love, and another mom of a girl in the class. Well the other mom just happens to be Tina Fey. Her adorable daughter Alice is one of my 5-year-old's friends. Tina invited us to join them for pizza after tap. I ran outside, called the other nanny to make sure she could cover dinner time at the apartment, and then prayed for twenty minutes that Marguerite wouldn't let me down and decide she didn't want pizza for some reason when she finished tapping. Marguerite frolicked out of dance class and announced that she would love to go to pizza with Alice, and so we did.
Tina, Alice, Marguerite, and I had a lovely dinner on the Upper West Side. Tina talked to me a lot about auditioning, and the performing arts business in New York. She talked about how much respect she had for people auditioning here, and how hard it must be. She was very complimentary and encouraging, and honestly gave me just the encouragement I needed, after a hard week of auditioning and comments like Maddie's from an hour earlier. Another highlight of the meal was Alice's boisterous statement that I looked just like the Legally Blonde girl. I told little Alice that was the nicest compliment I'd received since living in New York, haha!
Tina is so kind and fun to talk to. Her quiet demeanor is totally different from what I had seen on TV, and it's also really cool to see what a great mom she is. After dinner, we had cupcakes at Magnolia Bakery. Tina blocked out the people staring at us and whispering, and we had a great time. I am SO thankful for the neat opportunity to get to know a mom who is also such a successful actress. I think Marguerite and Alice had a great time too! :)
