I recently had the pleasure of watching my son do 30 minutes of stand-up comedy at an East Village club. Visit here to see  the first 8 minutes of his performance.  (Warning, Boomers: this gets a little ‘blue’ for those with refined sensibilities.)

David has a back-up plan if he doesn’t make it in show business --- he’s in his second year of law school. He’ll be a fine attorney. In fact, he got his first courtroom thrill this summer interning for a U.S. federal judge in Newark, NJ. As a father, I don’t really fret about his journey.

He was born to perform and, whether he fulfills that providence as a comic or as a courtroom litigator, he is already a force to be reckoned with.

My daughter went through a similar path. Jenna was singing and dancing as early as she could walk and performed her way through school plays all the way up to her senior year at college.

In fact, our little Long Island community has spawned Natalie Portman and Jamie-Lynn Sigler (who played a supporting role to our daughter, the star of “Annie” in their high school production.) When Jenna graduated from her Ivy League school, she set aside time and dove into the dreadful world of auditions and pounding the pavement for work in commercials, film, theater and TV.

 She did get an acting assignment in an independent film which, seven years later, has yet to be released.

Jenna’s back-up plan included getting her B.A. in Communications which was utilized about 6 months later when she went about building a successful career in advertising.

Madison Avenue being what it is, she gave it up after about 5 years and has now found her true vocation as a teacher in a prestigious Manhattan private school.

In a not-too-dissimilar story, I had a fling as an actor myself. In college, I was fortunate enough to land the lead role in “Tartuffe.”

The production was awarded first prize in a statewide competition and we went on to tour the SUNY college system with our little show. That experience, in part, helped me earn a spot with the Utah Shakespeare Festival during my first post-college summer of 1973. The repertory experience was fantastic and I was determined to fulfill my performance destiny so I, too, did the audition route in L.A. and back in NYC.


My back-up plan was to rely on my sensible B.A. in Psychology and I soon found work in advertising and market research. Thirty-six years hence, I’m still conducting surveys and delivering consumer insights to the titans of business so they can optimize marketing strategies to move their goods and services.


In an exquisite moment of family irony, I have found my venue writing for this website and, in so doing, rediscovered my creative “voice.” My daughter is directing fifth-graders in her school’s year-end blockbuster show and runs a summer school drama program. Then there’s David --- the family’s newest performer --- who has a promising future ahead of him.


In an August 10, 2009 interview on “Charlie Rose,” Meryl Streep said this of actors:

“How are actors different than the rest of us? All lives are uncertain but actors know it. Because actors are unemployed so often and live so intensely in the moments when we’re working, when you come back to earth actors live exactly where they are.”

As Baby Boomers, we were encouraged to believe that we could reach for the stars. In our particular post-modern reality, we each learned about the significance of back-up plans and we have passed these values onto our children. My kids are stars to me, no matter what they do. But, as Meryl Streep says, life is uncertain and the road to success is very bumpy and takes many twists and turns.

In the end, if we hold true to our calling, we can find our way (back) to our creative destinies.