Last night I finished Patrick Stewart's memoir Making It So, and I want to jot down some brief thoughts.

Several aspects of the work were fascinating to me: Stewart's early life in Yorkshire; his falling in love with the stage and his development as an actor; his love of Shakespeare; his life as a popular TV and film actor; and much more. As he describes certain special moments that he experienced on stage, I'm reminded that there is a magic in the moment as people do something great together in real time. I have experienced the same sense of magic as a teacher. 

But I also was reminded of the importance of priorities. Stewart sacrificed his family for a career. He is an enormously generous, kind, talented man; but by putting his career above his family, he lost something far more important, and these regrets come through powerfully and sadly in his memoir.