Dear Young Casey,

Dear Young Casey,

You just graduated high school, and life is about to change majorly for you. You're about to go to Dean College in Franklin, MA to get a degree in Theatre. You have a dream of performing on Broadway, and you are determined to make it happen. You just saw The Lion King, mesmerized by everything you saw. You're looking out into that audience, looking up at the buildings and saying "Yeah, this'll be me."

Spoiler alert, it's not you.

Once you get to college, life will be like a dream and a nightmare at the same time. You will get to perform the way you've always wanted to, in a professional manner with people who care. Early on you will devote almost all your time and energy to the shows that made you feel important. Being the understudy to the lead, splitting a leading role, getting the exact part you auditioned for will be highlights of your college career. You are going to learn so much about your craft and how much theatre can really be, you'll have the time of your life. At the same time, you will get into relationships where people say one thing and mean another. You will fight mental demons you thought you had buried in business in high school. You will get your heart broken more times than you can count, and not just by boys. No matter how much mental and physical pain you experience, you will make it through.

You will fulfill a life long dream; you will study abroad in London. And that experience will be cut short by a world wide pandemic, something you never saw coming. It's not your fault. Yes it is unfair. Almost half of your college experience will be tainted by this; your senior year will be spent at home doing class online. People say "be grateful it wasn't all four years." It's okay, you process that trauma however you need to. It's still with you, we're still healing.

So now here we are. Living with the best partner you could ever ask for, living in a beautiful apartment, and working in the Boston area. Albeit it's not like you dreamed, but we're still here. Plans change. Events change. Even though you're not on Broadway, you are still a success. And even if you're not performing, you're still an actor.

This new picture is you on closing night of a show you just choreographed. How can that be you ask, dance was never our strong suit compared to acting and singing. Life is weird like that. We worked at Dick Barker, we created an entire dance program, and we are mostly working in dance professionally. You just created and taught 10 dances to 50 children in three months. You should truly win an award for how much you've gone through in this process. People will try to knock you down or take credit away from you, but you keep your head up high and keep moving forward. This show, these kids are some of your best achievements.

So whenever you feel like you've had enough, you can't do it anymore, it hurts too bad, I promise it will get better. It will eventually be okay. Because we'll be here. And we didn't get here without that. I know this isn't what you dreamed of, but it's even better. We're learning that we're more than just our accomplishments, that adversity has made us the most adaptable and strong we have ever been, and that mental health is a marathon, not a sprint. Keep dreaming love. I'm proud of you, and I love you. Thank you for always pushing me to go deeper, go higher, and shine bright. Keep up the good work, you'll make it where you're meant to be.

All my love,

Your future self