To say mom and dad loved RENT would be an understatement. The first time they saw it together on tour in Richmond at The Landmark (now Altria), they ended up buying tickets to see it again later in the week.

Although the plot and song lyrics are…PG-13 (if we’re being conservative in the rating), mom and dad LOVED the musical score and believed in the storyline of love, friendship, acceptance and living life enough that they were OK with Joelle and I listening to most of the songs at a young age. In fact, Joelle even sang “Take Me or Leave Me” for her play audition at age seven!

Needless to say, we were ECSTATIC when they told us we were finally going to be able to see this musical that we had heard so much about. The tour was coming to DC in the winter of 2003, and we were going to play hooky to see it. LET THE COUNTDOWN BEGIN.

Fast forward to December 1, 2002. It was 30 minutes or so after mom told us that daddy had died, and my 11-year-old mind panicked.

But we were supposed to see RENT together…

We did end up going — Sybil came along in daddy’s spot. This is the program from that show.

Years later, mom and I went to NYC for my 16th birthday. We had tickets to RENT of course, but I wanted to try my hand at the lottery. Jonathan Larson believed that everyone should have the opportunity to see shows on Broadway. Accordingly, for every show, you could enter your name in a lottery to win 1 or 2 tickets to see the show for just $20 in the one of the front rows. Hundreds of people showed up hours before the show to enter, and in a true God-wink moment, my name was called. We sat front row in the dead center and cried so much during Seasons of Love and I’ll Cover You.  I’d like to think it was a sign from Daddy.