Just like that, it's over. The final standing ovation, the last time everyone will be in costume. The songs are still with me, and will be for awhile no doubt. The feelings of affection for fifty three teenagers, and their on stage characters linger like the smell of the campfire on your clothes. 

I wanted to give them something... a souvenir of our time together. Donkey asked to buy a t-shirt when he and Shrek passed though the city of Duloc, but they were in a hurry. Every cast member did go home with a t-shirt, emblazoned with the words "This is our story". 

But I needed to mark our connection from three months of measuring, trying clothes on, alterations, and quickly re-gluing straps on hats at intermission. I took a scrap of the red scaly fabric from the dragon's costume and made a little bag. The green sparkly fabric from the rats's cummerbunds is a bit hard on the needle as it tries to pierce sequins, but looked terrific. I pawed through my fabric stash to find something to match each actor. Onion fabric for the ogres. A print that looks like wood for Pinocchio. I found a fairy tale piece that has three blind mice and Humpty Dumpty. The cat fabric I inherited when someone downsized has Puss in Boots. Fifty little bags later I still did not have one for the king, queen, or donkey. All my farm prints and no donkey? 

There was a pancake breakfast we went to the next day and I asked a few friends if they had anything I could use. One woman went home and brought me back a sweet little donkey print. A scrap of satin to match the queen and velvet for the king and the pile was complete. 

The chocolate I slipped inside each one would be gone in a day but I hoped the small envelope for memories would last a little longer. It's an honor to be part of one another's story.