Listen To Your Mother 2015- The Family

Listen To Your Mother Detroit was this past Sunday.  

In some ways it feels like sort of a dream, like a did that really happen? kind of thing.  But it did happen and it was all kinds of wonderful.

Before the show started, crowds lined up outside the historic theater in Detroit. 

Photo by Kimberly Mitchell 

Photo by Kimberly Mitchell

Photo by Kimberly Mitchell

While the energy grew outside, it was growing inside too. All 13 of us were inside practicing, sound checking on stage, eating lunch, getting our makeup done, talking, laughing.  Some of us might have been dancing a little too.

Photo by Kimberly Mitchell

Liz helps her mother with her necklace before the show.

Photo by Kimberly Mitchell 

Photo by Kimberly Mitchell

Photo by Kimberly Mitchell

That's the part of this whole LTYM process that is so surprising to me, that's the part that's not on stage...the part where everyone becomes friends and like a family.  Watching everyone relax and connect before the show made Angela (my friend/coproducer/partner in crime) and me feel like proud mothers.  Like an "aww, look at how well all of our kids get along and really like each other" kind of feeling.

It isn't that they, we, all just like each other. We all support, encourage, understand and feel pretty much bonded together forever through this experience of getting on stage and telling our stories about motherhood.  

It's not like we are family, we just are family.

Photo by Kimberly Mitchell

Photo by Kimberly Mitchell

Photo by Kimberly Mitchell

The family, I mean the 2015 cast of
Listen To Your Mother Metro Detroit.
Photo by Kimberly Mitchell

During the show, "the family" cheered each other on from the front row. 

Photo by Kimberly Mitchell

Photo by Kimberly Mitchell 

Photo by Kimerly Mitchell

Photo by Kimberly Mitchell

Photo by Kimberly Mitchell

Photo by Kimberly Mitchell

Photo by Kimerly Mitchell

Photo by Kimberly Mitchell

Photo by Kimberly Mitchell

We literally held onto each other before we went on stage, on stage and after the stage. And then we took selfies, we hugged, we lingered, we didn't want it to end. 

Photo by Kimberly Mitchell

Photo by Kimberly Mitchell

Photo by Kimberly Mitchell

And yeah, some of us danced again.
Photo by Kimberly Mitchell

Photo by Kimberly Mitchell

The show was so good. The stories were insightful and funny and moving. The readers were brave and honest and beautiful. The audience was receptive and supportive and appreciative. 

Photo by Kimberly Mitchell

Listen To Your Mother Metro Detroit 2015 is over, but "the family" is planning the reunion already.