My Dixie Dream

It was a dream from the start. We came together to make magic...calling ourselves The Dixie Girls. I was Vernadette. There was Dinah, Lexie, Jerrie Neal and Sheree. In 2 hours we aged 40 years, laughed, fought, ate buttermilk biscuits and butter and honey, and cried...together.

The warmth of the stage lights held us together. The laughter. The ebb and flow of energy from the moment those lights came up we were there for the audience. And each other. Not just on the stage, but off, too. The Dixie Girls reminded us that a woman's friendship can start off as a fragile egg. We engage in each other's lives. We enjoyed sharing and learning about one another as we also learned about our characters' lives.

For me, I learned about Vernadette's dysfunctional family. Her crazy husband, Burl, whom Vernadette loves fiercly and while she pokes fun at Burl to her friends, she also will defend fiercly, too. Their way of life is simple, Southern, and saucy. I mean, who's husband will, to keep her from going on her yearly Dixie trip, will throw away ALL her clothes?!?! And what wife will, upon getting all her clothes thrown away, will dress in a clown outfit (her third part-time job!) and head to her Girls Weekend anyway? Vernadette, that's who.

And which woman will passionately, at the top of her lungs, describe buttermilk biscuits as the iconic symbol of Southern identity? Vernadette, that's who. She yearns for the simple life. Raging against gentrification and corporation takeover of her simple, quiet, Southern life, Vernadette shuns the 'outside' world and the ways that it stereotypes her. At the same time, she is nothing but simple. She is full of pride and love and vigor...always willling to crack a joke when things get tough.

I have a great deal in common with Vernadette. I enjoy my simple life. I love my wife fiercly. And we argue like any other couple. She's never thrown away my clothes (to my knowledge!), but I'm sure there are some things she would be happy I get rid of or grow out of. We have an incredibly close circle of women friends that have been in our lives for over a decade. We have been there at each other's weddings. We've watched babies be born and grow. We are all aunties. I...am Auntie Mimi. And I am very proud of that.

But we have a few differences, too. I have only briefly visited the South. I've never been to North Carolina (where the Dixie's are from). I learned to appreciate the South much more by playing Vernadette. I don't have children. She has two of them, neither seem to be anything that Vernadette or Burl wanted for them, but she loves them nonetheless. And worries about them. Covered up by humor.

While Vernadette's later life culminates in being cared for by Lexie because she's lost Burl, both her children are missing in her life, and she is battling dimentia/Alzheimer's (it isn't clear in the script). My life, I feel, is just getting going. I'll be 46 this year. I'm beginning to see gray hairs around the temple. And few on top. I worry about getting Alzheimer's. My Grandpa had it. I watched his decline. I worry who will be there for me in the end. Because if there is one thing that does not translate from stage to life: friends are friends while they're friends...until they aren't. Life can hand you some bitter lemons sometimes. Vernadette and the gals taught me that when that happens...grab some vodka and say "screw 'em!".

The trust between the 5 of us on stage and off was incredible and the faith that we had in our amazing director...the leader of this little gang...we could not have asked for a better experience. May all our theater experiences be like this! ...And as for you, Vernie, you'll always be a part of me. I'll think of you when I eat biscuits, run for the bathroom, and get gray hair. I think we look pretty good in gray!