Not an Acceptance Speech, but a Pat on My Own Back

I'm going to cut to the chase.

I am really proud of myself.  

I have friends who do this stuff every day, who can turn on the TV any time and see themselves on a national commercial, or as a series regular on a TV show, or who have a long list of IMDB credits.  And I know they all worked really hard to get to those places.

And you know, I worked hard to get myself on LAW AND ORDER:SVU this Wednesday night at 9pm EST on NBC, check your local listings. 

I played it cool in the car, riding to set in Staten Island with Danny Pino.  I played it cool when Mariska and I talked about our childbirth experiences between takes.  I let my cool drop a bit when I asked to take a photo with Mariska at the last possible moment at the end of our day of shooting- but I regained my cool by NOT posting it on Facebook (though I did text it to a select few friends and family.)

But I'm really, really excited to see this episode on Wednesday night at 9pm EST, check your local listings.

Dean and I moved to NYC 3.5 years ago to pursue our dreams.  My pursuit idled a bit while I was pregnant with Elrod (though I did stifle my urge to vomit long enough to do a play and a film out of town in my first trimester), and the pursuit continued to simmer on the back burner for the first year I stayed home with him- and I wouldn't trade that for anything.

But you know what?  I knew when the time was right to jump back in, and I did.  I jumped and I took swimming lessons, and I swam and I met the lifeguards, and I learned to love the sand, and....I can't carry this metaphor on any longer- it was pretty weak to begin with.

My point is that I am proud that I got myself on a TV show that almost everyone has seen, and I look forward to one Saturday afternoon a year or six from now, watching a LAW AND ORDER:SVU marathon on TBS, and seeing myself on screen again, and then waiting three months for that residual check for $1.09 to arrive in the mail.  And some of you will recognize why a check for $1.09 is so meaningful to me.  I know Iron Balls McGinty will.

If you're like me, you might be thinking, "Well, this is good, but what if it's the only thing you do?  What if there aren't any more TV gigs in your future?  Hundreds of actors have been on this show over the years.  Maybe even THOUSANDS.  So what?"  And to you I say, "Will YOU be on SVU this Wednesday night at 9pm EST, check your local listings?"  And if you're a friend of mine who has been on the show, well, then...please be more supportive and optimistic.

This may be all I do.  It may be the last good credit on my resume.  Or it may be the first.  Or second, because I did do ARMY WIVES, and that's not too shabby.  (For you SC actors, people up here are impressed by it, and don't know that a bunch of us locals got cast.) But I hope it's not the last good thing.  I don't feel like it's time to get out of the pool yet, I'm just ditching my water wings.  (Too soon to revisit the crappy metaphor?)

If you're a friend and you're planning to watch it, thank you so much.  It makes me tear up and happy and embarrassed and excited.  If you don't like me and are planning on watching it, don't you have anything better to do than read my blog and watch me on TV? (High five with my friends.)

I will be watching the show this Wednesday night at 9pm EST in my living room with our good friend Stephen Stafford (Dean is in Nashville this week, being a kick-ass playwright.)  Elrod will be sleeping in the next room, so we will have to be very quiet while we sip champagne and wait for my big moment.  And then I will blush and feel proud and probably text my mom and cry a little.

Unless they cut me out.  Then I'll cry a lot.

DISCLAIMER:  I had to go rerecord some dialogue for the episode last week (called "looping"), and they didn't cut me out.  In fact, it looks awesome.