Book: Lilly's Big Day
Author: Kevin Henkes
“Okay, start when you’re ready,”
Those words have been spoken by each of my drama teacher’s when I’m standing on stage about to perform the piece I’ve prepared and memorized. Those words are spoken and they float in the air clouding my mind with doubts and insecurities. Am I ready? Did I practice enough? What if I don’t get the part? Before I can nod my head and begin, I’m shaking an after effect of my anxiety, nerves, and the urge to run off stage in defeat. I’m past the point where pre-show warm-ups and breathing techniques will help me, so I might as well begin.
Lilly’s Big Day by Kevin Henkes is a story about a mouse named Lilly who thinks she is going the flower girl in her teacher’s, Mr. Slinger, wedding. In her room, she practices properly walking down the aisle and carrying a bouquet saying, “It will be the biggest day of my life.”
For a girl, Lilly’s age being a flower girl at a wedding would be a significant accomplishment. Her parents try to gently let her know, that she might not be the flower girl, but Lilly cannot be; otherwise, she’s going to be a flower girl. Right?
Like any audition or job interview, you have to prove you are right for the part and Lilly does just this when trying to become the flower girl in Mr. Slinger’s wedding. She announced her dream during Sharing Time and, the next day at recess with a handful of weeds she performs her best flower girl walk.
I stood there on stage in front of my teacher’s giving the audition of a lifetime, at least in from perspective. My character was supposed to yell, so my voice boomed. When my character was in despair, I dropped to my knees and sobbed. If my character was joyous, I made my laugh echo. At the end of it all, I stood up in a moment of complete otherworldliness. I had become my character.
My drama teacher grinned, and my heart swelled I had definitely gotten the part. I ran out of the room and danced down the hallways. The cast list would be posted the next day, and I knew my name was going to be on that list. Then, it started to seep in maybe it was the adrenaline from my nerves that made me think I performed well, and after I went home, there was this side of me that knew that was, in fact, the worst audition I have ever done, and I was right. My name wasn’t anywhere to be seen that list, and at that moment I was nothing.
Lilly was met with disappointment too. Mr. Slinger had to tell Lilly that his cousin Ginger was going to be the flower girl in his wedding, that the everyone in their class will be invited to the wedding and that if Lilly wanted she could be Ginger’s assistant. Lilly responded to this idea with a, “Oh, all right, if you really need me so much.”
Lilly tried to be positive about this new prospect, but eventually, it really did settle in that she would not be the flower girl walking down the aisle. Of course, she was disappointed, but Lilly still practiced, and she did end up playing a role in the wedding. Lilly assisted Ginger in walking down the aisle after she froze up on the big day.
So, it wasn’t what she wanted, but in the end, it turned out that want we aren’t always what’s best for everyone. However, when we’re met with disappointment or possibly even tragedy, we can adapt and learn to make the situation into something new…into something better. A simple lesson, but an important factor of a positive mindset when life twists and turns and seems to escape us.