Another month lived and another beautiful shell taken from the bowl of a YEAR OF CONSCIOUS LIVING. Its earthy colors and rippled exterior offer metaphor for life’s daily changes with its peaks and valleys of experiences.
It’s now mid December and I’m forcing myself to make this entry. That sort of sums up how untuned in I’ve been this month. Days fly by before I recognize that I’m supposed to be paying attention. And then I realize how often I just exist without making note of the daily hours. As November started ticking down to its close I’ve wondered how I’ll journal its happenings.
Sure, I did a lot and could include a roster of activities. This is a busy month for everybody as most hustle to get ready for Thanksgiving and start the burden of Christmas shopping. And “burden” is the operative word especially since everyone buys what they want all year and I have no ideas for anything special.
This month was very much about doing and very little about being and observing. Plus, as a non sequitur, I’ve been eating a lot – which is apropos for the season. (Looking forward to January when I can stop allowing myself to be enticed. Talk about anticipating my life away!)
It does happen, though, when the passage of time takes center stage and I tune into more than five decades of life now behind me.
Take, for instance, my 40th year high school reunion. 40th YEAR! Conveniently scheduled around Thanksgiving, about 140 of us (and some spouses, not mine) met up at a hometown country club and danced the night away. But much of the time was spent marveling over the 40 years that had passed and how much living took place in that time…marriages, divorces, children, grandchildren, travel, career choices, progress and set backs, health and deaths. Multiply that list by 140 people and recognize how, at this time and place, we are touching each other’s lives once again and remembering the roles we played with each other as teenagers. In all likelihood there won’t be another 40 years to reminisce about. Now that’s a rude awakening!
And then there’s the 911 Memorial. Talk about being abruptly awakened! The truth about life is that one-minute you’re here and the next you’re not. Imagine the mundane morning that greeted each of the fallen victims. Life is always unpredictable and often tragic. There’s another reason to be aware of each day and appreciate it.
Juxtaposed against that was Broadway, my favorite place to be. As a kid my only dream was to star in Broadway musicals where I could sing and dance my heart out. After many childhood cast rejections (a cruel reality in my life) I finally decided to find other dreams. But the fire I feel while experiencing the best that American theater offers is still as strong today as ever. And 
I have to sit really close so I can be swept into the world created by a multitude of artists. I live and breathe with the performers on stage. And once in town, we gorge on theater, fitting in as many shows and plays as we can in just a few days. This year it was 5 in 4 days. Yay! (I reviewed them on this blog site so check them out!)
It blew my mind that it had been two years since our last stage orgy and I can’t tell you what I’d done in those two years. And I realize I won’t get that time back. But I can say that experiencing theater is when I feel most alive, provided I’m within the first 10 rows. The exhilaration and thrill of live theater brings me to tears, and I’m driven to scream out after a particularly moving song or dance number – when the emotion oozes out of the performer and wrings him dry. Attend ONCE to experience that transformation during Steve Kazee’s or Cristin Milioti’s numbers. Wow!
And touch Chad Kimball’s soul in MEMPHIS during his gut stirring rendition of “Memphis Lives In Me.”
In re-living parts of November on paper I am aware of the fleeting moments of life, articulated well by Silas House in his New York Times piece The Art of Being Still. A writer, he was given a piece of advice that drives his daily life: “discover something new every day.” Thank you for that. It’s always possible to do.
actthreedotnet 