By Lance McWilliams

Fourteen years
Six months
Three weeks
Two days
Four hours
and about Thirty-Seven minutes ago I had this thought that overtook me.
“I am going to be a STAR!!!” not just any star, but one of those girls who dances with Oscar across the stage.  I was going to be a star!!!

So, I started my quest.  I washed windows, watched babies and wallowed doing any work I could.  It didn’t matter what it was as long as it paid.   I saved every new and old coin I earned.  I was as happy as happy could be. I was going to be a Star!!!

Once I had enough money to buy my bus ticket and enough money to live on for a few weeks I was going to be on my way.  I wasn’t sure if it was Hollywood or New York, but that didn’t matter.  Because one thing that I was sure of was “I was going to be a Star!!!”

I found out that the bus ticket cost a little more than what I thought.  But, I gladly paid the extra money.   And, I was on my way because I knew “I was going to be a Star!!!”

The food cost more, the room cost more, the people weren’t as friendly, the extra jobs didn’t exist in Hollywood, the nights were lonelier and the days were longer.  I found that the directors aren’t looking for you and there are more things you “need” than I ever thought.  But, none of this mattered because” I was going to be a star!!!”

I tried, Lord knows I tried.  I did everything I could, everything I knew to do, and everything I could think of to do.  No matter what I did, I couldn’t do the right thing.  People would tell me “what” I need to do and I would do it.  You know it didn’t matter because I was going to be a star!!!

Then came the day I had to make one of those hard choices in life.  That was the day I found Buttercup.  I call her Buttercup because I found her in a Reese’s Peanut Buttercup wrapper.  The place I was staying wouldn’t allow animals and I couldn’t leave Buttercup by herself.  So, Buttercup and I decided to move to the street for a couple of days.  You know it didn’t matter because Buttercup and I were going to be Stars!!!

I don’t really remember how long after Buttercup and I found each other, or even if it was before or after we became a family.  But, I had a reading for a part in a small film.  It was going to be my start, my beginning, my catapult to stardom.  But, something when wrong, the director didn’t understand how talented I was.  He said “while you were dreaming of becoming a star, you might have done something, anything to prepare yourself to become an actor!” He told me that I “couldn’t act like a rock if all I had to do was sit there and be still.”  What he didn’t understand was I was going to be a star!!!

You know that was the day that I finally made up my mind.  I made up my mind I was going to do whatever I had to do, no matter what, to become a star.  That was the day that I started learning how to become an actor.  That was the day that my view, my thoughts, my beliefs and my life changed.  That was the day this picture was taken.  You know that was the day I decided I was going to be a STAR!!!

“Now, as you know I have been in several movies, stared in countless TV shows and acted on stage with the greats of Broadway.  Now I have been to see the other girls dance with Oscar but have not had my ticket called.  But you know I know it will happen.  It has already happened in my mind.  My entire life changed that day I decided.  My entire life changed the day I quit dreaming about becoming a star and decided I was already a star.”

Well, I  am sure that I will be able to tell you that one day….because I am a Star!!!!

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NOTE: Lance’s story and Claudia’s story (previous page) were sent to us 7 minutes apart on February 20, 2012.