This was Katie's straw boater hat, except it had a pale blue ribbon instead.
Starlight Theatre (Kansas City’s treasured outdoor performing arts venue) has been an important part of my life since I was 10. I remember my Mother taking us at least once every summer, and although we sat way in the back, it was as fun and exciting as ever. My favorites from those years were Bye Bye Birdie, Camelot, West Side Story and Brigadoon!
Mom carried on the tradition with her grandchildren, my nieces and nephews, and we have taken all the kids to Starlight each summer since Nick was 9, Katie was 8, and later when Ian was 6, then when Elyse was 6. And we now have great season tickets in the center orchestra section, row 4, aisle seats, which gave them a birds-eye view of the stage.
All four of the kids have loved going with us year after year, and since we only have four seats, there’s friendly competition about who goes to what show. But as they have gotten older, they’ve gotten more selective about what show they want to attend. It was very bittersweet last night that I couldn’t get any of them to go to the season opener “Little House on the Prairie.” They were either too busy or not interested, or saving their Starlight “attendance pass” for one of the other shows later in the season.
Katie trying on a fur hat while we were Christmas shopping at Lord & Taylor in Chicago
Last night as Mom and I watched the show without any of the kids, the girl playing Laura Ingalls buys herself a new straw hat in the second half of the show. It reminded me of the new straw boater hat we bought Katie (and matching dress) on the first occasion of her Starlight début (we saw Cats)! She looked absolutely beautiful. She had long straight blonde hair, and the hat’s straw pale color was almost the color of her hair. It had a pale blue ribbon on it, the exact color of her eyes, and a small little daisy on it. The sundress was also pale blue, with miniature daisies across the bodice.
Everywhere she went she looked like a breath of fresh air, and people would do a double take because of how stunningly pretty she looked. Most eight year olds would have kept the hat on for just a few minutes to humor their aunt or grandma, but Katie wore that hat with confidence!
And while Katie doesn’t necessarily like to wear hats now, she does dress and wear clothes with confidence. Proof in point: she’s now very tall and loves wearing high heels! And incidentally, when we go shopping, she loves to stop and try on hats (and shoes of course).
I probably will be sharing more Starlight memories, as it has been a big part of the time I’ve spent with my nephews and nieces. We’ve laughed and cried together, have been hot and chilly together (sitting at the outside theatre), but mainly we’ve had so much fun and have made wonderful memories together. And by the way, “Memories” from Cats was Katie’s and my favorite song that night she wore the straw hat.
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