Lance Around Orlando

I don’t believe in coincidences

Lately, Number One Daughter has been thinking about school next year.  Even though she is only 15, her teachers have decided she is ready to take some college courses.  She is a little nervous about it. We discuss it as Mrs. LanceAround and I are driving to the Garden Theatre in Winter Garden to see a live production of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”.

Valencia College, one of the nation’s largest and most celebrated two year colleges, is in Central Florida. Both Number One and Number Two Sons were “dual enrolled” at Valencia.

Dual enrollment is a special program the college offers to outstanding high school students who take college courses and receive both college and high school credit. This is what Number One Daughter plans to do next year. She’s just a little nervous about it.

At the theatre, I am reading the program and point out to Number One Daughter that Dr. Shugart, the president of Valencia College, is doing a guest appearance as Potiphar in tonight’s production of Joseph.

Suddenly, the gentleman sitting right in front of us turns around and says, “I overheard you say you will be attending Valencia next year. I’m Dr. Shugart.” He continues to converse with Number One Daughter, helping her feel at ease. He gives her instructions for how to email him.

Then, sure enough, at the proper moment he leaves his seat and gives a flamboyant, flirtatious performance as Potiphar–much to the hearty amusement of many members of the audience who clearly know him personally.

After his cameo role, he comes back to his seat. In a joking manner, I loudly proclaim to Number One Daughter, “I’m not so sure I want you to attend Valencia next year, I hear the president is a little…” By this time, Dr. Shugart is laughing and says, “That’s as wild as I’ve been for a long time!” 

Too bad, it looked like a lot of fun.

The rest of the show, by the way, was also really good. The Garden Theatre did a wonderful job. The audience gave a standing ovation at the end. Dr. Shugart got the biggest applause.

And Number One Daughter was feeling a lot more relaxed about attending Valencia next year.

Like I said, I don’t believe in coincidences. Thank you Dr. Shugart, for helping Number One Daughter feel more relaxed.

This entry was posted on May 14, 2010 at 3:21 am and is filed under My Muses. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.