The Legacy of a Lost Boy

I'm a proud dad this morning. My middle son has a role in our local community theatre's production of Peter Pan. He isn't in a major role - but I couldn't be any more proud if he were the Pan himself. He plays a supporting "Lost Boy" role that isn't even named in the script. Those who know and love him know the character as "Dirty Dan" - the dirtiest Lost Boy of them all.

I enjoyed watching him crawl in and out of the tunnels into the cave, playing amongst fairies, trying to catch mermaids and defying Captain James Hook on the deck of the Jolly Roger. In the closing scenes of the show, he flew to London with the other Lost Boys to be adopted by the Darling family. My last glimpse of him was as he was led out of the night nursery door towards the drawing room which was to be his new abode.

What followed his exit was what gave me the idea for this entry. Our Narrator, "James M. Barrie" himself, went on to explain that while Peter remained in Neverland as a boy forever, all the other boys eventually quit believing and grew up to be men with families of their own. Wendy would become too old to make the flights to Neverland and her daughter, Jane would serve as Peter's mother. And then Jane's daughter Margaret would succeed her. And the tradition would continue.

And then the question came to my mind - "I wonder what became of my beloved Dirty Dan?"

We often hear what happens to the famous, the well known, the high profile people in our society. We learn of their triumphs and tragedies alike. But we often lose track of the regular folks - those whose names aren't listed in the script, unless there is some special connection to them.

Since there is a special connection between me and Dirty Dan, I wanted to know what became of him. There is the sad thought that he could have lived in Neverland and then become so jaded or cynical as to forget the glories of a part of his life lived in such a magical place and lived in such a way as to be the envy of real boys everywhere. There was also my curiosity about what career he chose, who he married, what his children were like and if they would ever know what an amazing childhood their father had.

And then it hit me. "That's all up to Dan".

Dan, like the rest of us, had the opportunity to lay out his legacy. He would live the story that would be told about him. His legacy would depend on the life he lived.

While Dirty Dan was a fictional boy who was adopted by a fictional man, the actor playing the role is a very real boy with an equally real dad. I see the moral of Dan's story, at least for me, is that I have the opportunity to give the real boy the tools to build the legacy that he will leave to real children and grandchildren - and to give him the tales of my own legacy to pass along. If I give him nothing to share, my own role will be one that is not even mentioned in the "script" of his life and he will probably cease to believe. And I will fade into obscurity.

That's some pretty heavy stuff to get from a simple kids' show in a small town theatre in Georgia. Just the ramblings of a proud dad that wants to make his son proud as well.