Happiness is . . .
. . . Kathy getting the starring role in a play at the Racine Theater Guild . . .
. . . watching her successfully memorize the biggest theatrical role she’s ever had . . .
. . . seeing her make the role her very own, and growing in confidence and ease with each and every performance . . .
. . . hearing several veteran crew members say that she’s the nicest, most patient, most cooperative, and most appreciative actor they’ve ever worked with . . .
. . . joining with fellow audience members in uproarious laughter and enthusiastic standing ovations, night after night after night . . .
. . . reading rapturous reviews of her performance (and that of her cast mates) on Facebook, day after day . . .
. . . knowing that all kinds of people walked out of that theater feeling better than when they first walked in . . .
. . . overhearing members of the audience raving about her performance, and some of them even saying that this was the best thing they’ve seen at the Guild in 20 years . . .
. . . seeing the brilliant smile on her face down in the green room as she received the congratulations of friends and family . . .
. . . knowing that she deserved every bit of this glory, having earned it the hard way, through incredibly hard work . . .
. . . watching a first-rate cast make theatrical magic, night after night, assisted by a wonderful and devoted crew . . .
. . . surviving two months of intense challenges and emerging from them with newfound gratitude …. with amazing lessons learned . . . and just incredibly glad to be alive . . .