A New World

"Nice to see you again!" we say upon encountering an old classmate on Facebook.

"Oh, I met him last year -- but when I finally really saw him in person he did not look like I expected."

"Yeah, I know her. We're friends on Facebook because she is my sister's friend, too!" Has this person ever really talked with said acquaintance? Possibly not... unless chatting online constitutes "talking".

We of the older set need to adjust, learn new shades of meanings for time-tested vocabulary, and accept that "virtually real" calendar or list on the screen as equal to a paper one hanging on the wall. It needs to be as readily trusted somehow. Does anyone else feel that longing, that dependence, that need for a piece of paper with real ink on it before they can sense that a permanent commitment has been fixed, that it won't disappear somehow into oblivion? Well, somehow I must get over it. I suppose in time I will.

But this relationship stuff leaves me wondering. Huh. Will we lose much before we recognize the loss, learn hard lessons, and struggle to regain good social skills? What will replace personal encounters? Can anything replace them?

Lots to discover and maneuver and explore. Here's to the pioneers! May they go forth with wisdom and care.

Always He is there to send the fresh rain or the sun in its season. When my soul is dry and parched, in due time, His Spirit quenches thirst. When gray skies have stolen joy, His Word brings light into my world.

But always in His time, at the right time.

Lord, I lift my eyes up. I wait on You alone. Your glorious faithfulness is forever true. I wait, I wait on You.

Rejoice, O my soul. I will again rejoice in the God of my salvation! I desire no other thing; I want no other God. He is my heart's desire forevermore. Amen.

Solstice? Really?

Summer officially has arrived. Why does it feel like it's been here already for months?

Is it the unseasonably hot weather we experienced all through May?
Perhaps the flowers that are about two weeks ahead of schedule in their blooming this year?
Or is it because my children, last month, commenced what are typically summer adventures?

I cannot say. But it has become standard for me to feel about one season behind. This summer I feel like the season's official start is late.

I continue to submit: time is a strange thing -- elastic, as my husband is wont to say. Stretching and expanding, then snapping short again.

And I continue to submit this also: someday we will be in heaven and that sounds wonderful to me.

~~~~~~~~~

7 Things I'm Grateful For Today

* Gigi and her morning time chirping.
* A most wonderful and amazing husband.
* Flowers throughout the house, gathered from beautiful gardens by my 11 yr. old son.
* A day at home for catching up laundry and lines (I hope!)
* Hope, in God alone, for the future.
* My children -- forever I will be grateful to God for His plans which gloriously surpass any of my own design.
* Song and dance. I love such things.

Catch-up Time

BMI Showcase of New Artist Pick of the Month. Julia played at Rockwood Music Hall in Manhattan. Was a charming, intimate venue with a full house and pleasant audience. Lots of BMI folks there, an agent or two, Redlight Management people. And lots of Julia fans! A great show.

A night/day in Manhattan. Following the show, the kids traveled to Aunt Judy's house on LI while hubby and I took a brief but delightful vacation in the city. Waking up to busy street sounds, looking out the window to see school children walking with their parents, business ladies dressed in suits and sneakers, a young woman with a cello strapped to her back, and realizing that it was business as usual in NYC for all of them was amazing as always. Everyday life in such a place. So hard to imagine. But delightful, none the less.

Rick and I parked near the theater where later we would see the matinee performance of A Little Night Music with Catherine Zeta-Jones (Angela Lansbury's role was covered by her understudy). Once parked we hopped on a subway to Chelsea in the lower westside. We strolled, enjoyed breakfast at a favorite place, Rafaella's, then bought dessert for nibbling then and later at Billy's Bakery. The cupcake was luscious and the cheesecake was to die for. Wondering if Billy shares recipes.

The show was impeccable in many ways. Delightful singing, wonderful music, lovely costumes, and acting that was so very strong. The story, which centered only on adultery and immorality, was a bit tiresome, but then again, a reminder that some folks lives are thus focused. The end is empty and lonely. Jesus promises abundant life, doesn't He? Amen.

The trip home. Tiring, but when my turn to drive came, hubby rested in the back and Julia kept me company. I always love to spend time with my lovelies. We chatted about all sorts of things and nothing in particular. Just chatted. Love her!

The next morning was a "first thing in the morning" kind of morning. I had a dentist appointment at noon in Watertown. So, a quick tidying of the bedroom, an even quicker visit down street with daughter's family, and off I went. Home again to dance class in Potsdam -- WONDERFUL class!! Then Annie rehearsal.

And now, here I am, catching you up on these past couple of days. As if you needed to know all of that...

Another Season - Another Show!

Annie begins! Soon I will become Grace Farrell, personal secretary to Daddy Warbucks.

I've alluded in recent posts to rehearsals for Annie commencing. Tomorrow. It's the first one. And I'm a tad bit excited!

I've copied my lines, tagged the scenes, researched hair styles and fashions. I've drilled material for tomorrow night's rehearsal and looked over the rest of the week's ensemble pieces. I've worked out regularly, started summer dance classes, and lost some weight (not the full amount designated, but maybe in time it will all be gone.)

I've not kept up the vocal disciplines needed. Will need to show more faithfulness in that. Immediately. As in later today. It is a must. My role doesn't have large amounts of solo singing but I do alot of ensemble work and the range lies in a high register. I need to be on my game if I want to survive with all my vocal chords intact!

And I've not shaped up my sense of who Grace Farrell is entirely. That will partly come as the lines are staged and I get to interact with the other characters. But mostly it will come in my bedroom as I hammer all those words into my memory banks (these days it takes a sledge hammer.) Once I have learned them thoroughly they will begin to take on a life of their own; Grace will become a real person with a complete personality that must come through in each and every line and movement.

Do all people enjoy hobbies as much as I do this one? I love it!

The down side? It consumes my life for 6 weeks or so. I guess that is okay. It isn't the kind of thing that can be spread out over a semester or school year like bowling or tennis. It can't be taken out and put away at my convenience like knitting or crocheting. When you're on you're on, but then it's over. Put away until the next season.

But during those 6 weeks I am energized, excited, stretched, delighted, engrossed and engaged and enlivened.

So hold on -- you'll be hearing all about this stage experience. What can I say? It will fill my world for the next month and a half. Annie. Here it comes!

Boxes and Memories

The day was pleasant, the task a simple one. I was sorting and organizing CFA choral music. The boxes were labeled, the shelves filled. Now I just had to deal with the odds and ends. As I sifted through the pile of leftover octavos and songbooks, receipts and sundry papers were discovered. I thumbed through them, discarding most as I went. Then I came upon a 1998 Christmas program.

CFA presents:

Good King Wenceslas:
The King Who Kept On Giving

A Musical Play presented by K-12th graders

I looked it over slowly, carefully fingering this printed red piece of paper that had actually been there - in that place, in that time, with those people. I let the memories flood my mind, the sounds, the sights, the faces, the voices. Costumes, parents, students, funny songs. Lines and lyrics, dances and staging. Rehearsals with quick humor and fun laughter, the chaos of organizing all those students in one large production. It was a great time in my life.

I looked at the names listed on the program - all those precious names of so many young people - as I fingered it again. I contemplated the date: December, 1998. Time has gone by quickly. That season is long behind. Many of those students are adults with families of their own, their children already attending CFA. Other families have moved away. Some have met with tragedy.

Time is seldom kind. It refuses to wait for us. It steals treasured moments away from us, relegating them to memory's keeping at best. It isolates us from past pleasantries and happiness. It pushes, holds back, and is rarely moving at the pace of our choosing. Time makes us wait too long one day, only to find that the day has passed too quickly the next.

Oh, I felt an ache inside; sentimentality touched my heart with the pain that such melancholy brings. I learned some time ago to resist such sentiment. It is too bound to this world, this place that will not last. It is anchored to a system that will be destroyed. It is rooted in time.

But as I held that red colored program in my hand, I touched the past for a moment or two. My heart ached and longed for another time and place. But it cannot be reached. It cannot.

Slowly, reluctantly, and tenderly, I placed the recollection in the box along with the familiar red paper that stirred it; the box was placed on the shelf and the closet door was closed.

It was time to move on - again.

45 Days

Molded.
Touched by Fingers and His prints show.

Changed.
Altered in a lasting way.

Transformed.
Made into something that wasn't before.

A metamorphosis.
Movement - growth - to a more mature stage.

Intensity, cost, privilege.
Let it bear fruit that remains.