I met my daughter's class at Socastee High School for a field trip to see Shrek the Musical. I do not normally roam around Socastee, and I am not at all familiar with the area. It was sort of eerie to be there. As I got off of the highway I wondered if I was anywhere close to PTL and then immediately drove up on a sign for PT Road and shortly thereafter, the "tip tent" at River City Cafe. Just down the road at the HS, there was a huge missing banner on the fence of the school, with HEATHER? outlined in large letters in the chain links. I couldn't help but be overly conscientious that I was in Heather's HS. Even though I didn't know her, I feel heavily invested now and it felt surreal to be sitting there in the auditorium of her HS, the same auditorium in which ME's rendition of "Come Home" was recorded during a pageant.
And then all of a sudden, about 20 different characters came out on stage to perform a song and I thought I was going insane. There she was, ME dressed up as Peter Pan as part of the musical. It was surreal. Tonight I double checked the castings to see if it was in fact her, and sure enough, she is listed as a part of the production.
It was uncanny how Heather consumed my thoughts for much of the day and it breaks my heart to think about how exponential this sadness must be for ME and the rest of her family and friends.