Keys

The story of Helen Keller will always be a dear inspiration to me. Always resting close to my heart, deep within the secret nooks and hiding places of my soul.

I remember reading a children's adaptation of her story when I was little. Even then, I could recognize it's incredible magic. I never imagined one day that the impact of her story would change my life, as I knew it, forever.

I remember the day I got the phonecall from Natalie, announcing a new challenge. A new opportunity, a new dream, a new and shining chance to change our own little bit of the world, a new reason to make a difference:
A 7 week production of The Miracle Worker. With Natalie as Helen, and myself being offered the role of Annie Sullivan. Somewhere deep within my heart, despite the fear and the knowledge of the impossibility, I felt something move and I knew there was no way I could say no. Somehow I felt the gravity of the situation, I knew we were about to embark on a road that would lead us to make our own history. And we did.

Being a method actor, you don't just act the part. You are the part. You reach down inside of yourself until you find that character inside of yourself, and then you bring her out and she envelops you.

For 7 weeks, I wasn't only acting Anne Sullivan. I was Anne Sullivan. She was my every action, thought, word, feeling. To this day, almost 2 fateful years later, I still feel her presence in me. She taught me how to take a stand.
She taught me to never give up if you truly believe in something. She taught me that no matter how small a dream, or how impossible, it can be achieved if you only set your mind to it.
She gave me passion, drive, fulfillment, thirst for life, and the knowledge to differentiate between what I know I can do and what people think I can do.

She gave me Ireland.
She gave me my life-long soulmates and closest friends.
She's given me new breath into life and a new fire to live with a purpose and to write without hesitation.
What haven't I learned from her??

She gave me Natalie.
The relationship between Helen and Annie is without a doubt one of the most beautiful and unique, special relationships in all of human understanding. Natalie and I shared each other's souls for 7 whole weeks, and now we know each other's hearts and feelings like no other. Natalie inspires me more than anyone. It's not just her life story, it's how she lives. How she chooses to live, how she writes. In the aspect of being a writer, she's the only person most like myself. We share the same true passion, and she really understands what moves me the most.
I like to think we have the special relationship we do because of what we went through in the 7 week period.
We both came out of it changed people, and you don't share an experience like that with someone without giving them a piece of your soul and taking a piece of theirs with you.

In the Keller home, Helen was given the keys to all the rooms in the house so that she could never lock herself in a room with no way of getting out. When Annie moved in, Helen locked her in her room and hid the key underneath the pump outside.
At the end of the story, or in this case, the play, Helen finds the key and returns to the house. She places the key directly in Annie's hand as a final sign of love and understanding.

Last night, Natalie threw me a small birthday dinner, and it was absolutely beautiful.
On the way home, she gave me her last gift and told me to open it. Hanging from the gift bag handle was an old-fashioned key hung on a thin red ribbon.

It was a small, simple gesture, but more significant than any gift I have ever received.

That key means everything to me.
It's a reminder of Annie's strength and courage.
It's a reminder of wonderful memories shared with my favorite people.
It's a challenge to reach every single one of my dreams.
It's a keepsake of the unspoken bond and sisterhood that Natalie and I possess.
It's the key to my future.
It's the single most solitary definition of my life that could be represented by an unmoving object.
And it's a constant symbol of faith, trust, determination, dreams, and love.
All of which I learned more about in The Miracle Worker than I ever learned at one time.

All day long today, I've been thinking about that key.
Holding on to it.
It's a touchable piece of my soul, and I'm lucky to have it.