As I typed the date, I realized that today is Andrea Bair's birthday. She and I were close friends in high school; she was a year behind me, but participated in many of the same activities that I did. My senior year, she was my lab partner in Human Anatomy and Physiology, and I remember her intelligence, quick learning skills, and mostly her sense of humor with a smile. I always knew Andrea was going places. Indeed, that's just what she did. She's out west now, and nearly a paleontologist. Isn't that a cool career? It's one of those 'I wannabee when I grow up, mommy' jobs. Good for her.
I haven't really kept in touch with Andrea. I ran into her when she was home for Christmas last year. It makes me wonder what other really interesting things my old friends are doing. I've lost track of nearly all of them. Ah, well. I will probably find out soon enough. Our 10 year class reunion will probably take place next June.
This weekend was incredibly indescribably wonderful. Forest and I both had the whole weekend off, with no kid to contend with and nowhere in particular we had to be. We were both in heaven. It's a first for us, actually. We capitalized on it in a big way.
Saturday we slept in until we couldn't stand it anymore, and then hung around our house, eating cereal and playing games and being generally relaxed together. It was awfully nice. Then, we headed out to the mall, of all places, where we stocked up on a few necessaries, and Forest touched base with his winter boss. The Store will be closing in a couple of weeks, and Forest will be back to waiting tables. I'm actually considering joining him every other Saturday for my Christmas job. Cash in the pocket is a really nice thing, and waiting tables is all about cash in the pocket. We'll see, though. I don't know if they will really want to hire me for two Saturdays a month. I'm not willing to work any time that Forest is off, which means no Sundays, and I'm not willing to work weeknights, because it just kills me to close the mall and then be at my desk at 8:30 AM. I'm too old for that shit.
Anyhow, I'll cross my fingers about it, and hope. I will miss working at the Store, a lot. I like having that interaction with people, and I enjoy the fact that a job starts when they place their order, ends when I deliver it, and then doesn't come back to haunt me later. In my actual day-job I still have things I've been trying to accomplish for over a year and a half, which I just plain have to wait around for other people's approval to do. That isn't much fun.
Anyhow, I think Forest will be happy to get back to waiting tables. He likes the attention, I think, and is pleased that he will be assigned a regular weekday shift. It's a good-money shift, and after Christmas he'll be able to drop Saturdays and have the whole weekend and all weeknights off, just like me. That's ideal for us!! It's painful for both of us when he has to work during all of my time off.
While we were there, we had a late lunch at Olga's. I love the bread there, and the soup is pretty tasty, too.
After shopping we headed to East Lansing, browsed around a poster shop, killed a little time at Pinball Pete's, and headed for Bath for the closing night of The Dining Room. I thought it went pretty well. It's still a strange experience for me, not feeling completely emotionally attached to the show. It doesn't make me happy or sad that it's over, it's just one less thing to do this week. I like the creative freedom I had in this production, though, by not 'needing' to act, but doing so purely by choice. I also think I'm a lot more in touch with my feelings than I've been in a long time; so this was one of my better performances. All in all, it's a relief, as always, that it's over. I'll be glad to get back to having sorted and folded laundry again, and eating at home once in a while will be nice, before someone rushes me off into captivity at Sea World.
After the show, Forest and I went to the cast party, with a mind to leave relatively early, since we wanted to get out of town early Sunday morning. In fact, we ended up staying until nearly midnight, watching the U of M football game, celebrating Gary's birthday, and chatting with the folks. I'm really happy to see that Bath CTG is becoming such a warm, friendly community of people. When we first started out, it was all we could do just to put up our shows every season, and the few of us who were doing all the work were way too tired out and stressed to be much company for people. Now, I see real friendships forming among regular members of the guild, and a sense of a strong team supporting each show. I sat in the Carlson's house and listened to the laughter and warmth around me, and felt really good. This is a community I helped to create, and I'm proud of that.
We're a quirky little theatre, but it's a great place to work, and these people realize this. For example, our annual awards picnic is called the 'Tubby awards' (it's a pun), and everyone brings a dish to pass, and each person who participates in the season is given a special certificate specific to their own contribution. The awards are tongue-in-cheek silly, but demonstrate our appreciation. People's first year, they get a rubber ducky. Their second year, it's a washcloth, third is a hand towel, fourth is a bath towel. I think for my fifth year I want a jacuzzi, but I don't suppose they can afford that. Anyhow, we recognize the contributions of ALL the people involved, including the kids who supported their parents, and parents who supported their kids. We even give tubbies to babies born to guild members during the season. Every member of our group is valued, and given their moment of recognition.
Another example of our oddness in the world of theatre, is that we don't take things so damn seriously as others do. After our shows, cast and crew are encouraged to rush out to the lobby in full makeup and hug their family and friends, meet little kids, answer questions from prospective volunteers, and generally demonstrate our appreciation for our audience. It would seem strange to us to hide backstage until we had changed, and make our loved ones wait for us in the lobby. How silly is that tradition, anyway?
We also hold show for a few minutes in really bad weather to let audiences arrive and get comfy, allow them to attend as many shows as they want to when they purchase a season pass, and could care less whether they transfer that pass to a friend. We just want butts in seats, any way we can get them.
Every night we have a raffle and occasional door prizes during intermission, in the hopes that it makes the night a little more fun for our audience, and a little less formal for all. It also helps support the cost of producing the show, and trying to keep our tickets as cheap as possible. I think we're still the cheapest theatre seat in the area, as is part of our quest.
It's a tradition at BCTG that every new director is given the gift of a director's chair by the cast on closing night. The cast all autographs the chair with good wishes, and the name of the show goes on the back. We've had more directorial debuts than most theatres; largely because we're more likely to give someone new a shot than the larger, holier local theatres. We're there to help the new directors out, and I haven't seen one of them screw up yet. I think the other theatres could learn from us a bit on this one.
Kids are welcome at BCTG rehearsals; no one out in Bath is so snooty that they can't perform while there are kids quietly playing in the corner. We also get to rehearse in our performace venue, and we have plenty of room for all our stuff, nice dressing rooms, a set construction area, and a whole storage area, just for us.
At any rate, BCTG people are spoiled rotten, and I don't think some of the other Lansing theatre folks know what they are missing. It's a very special, warm, and happy place to do theatre.
Enough ranting on that, I suppose.
After the cast party and a nice hard lemonade, I asked Forest to drive, and chatting merrily all the way, we headed home. We realized we were hungry, though. Barleys' is just off the freeway on our way home, and I thought Forest would enjoy the trivia, or we could play some pool, so we stopped there. As it turns out, they don't have trivia anymore, and the pool tables were all full; however at a booth in the back was Andy, Shelly, Jeff, and Erica, a friend of Forest's who we had run into earlier that day, too! What a small world. It turns out that Erica is in Proposals with Jeff and Andy, and Forest thinks she'd be a great person for Jeff to be with, if that sort of thing was in the works. That'd be pretty cool, if so. I really do want Jeff to find happiness somehow.
Anyway, they invited us to join them, and we discovered we were too late for food, but decided that since we were in such good company, we'd stay and have a drink. It was really fun to hang out with everyone again. My Shelly once again made me insanely jealous with her Saturday night outfit. Geez, I really need to go get myself some 'going out' clothes. Once again, I'm caught sitting next to Shel in some sexy outfit while I'm wearing a worn blue thermal knit top, jeans, and tennies. I feel like such a frump! Well, at least I was wearing enough makeup on my face to sink a ship, right?
At any rate, we sat, drank a little, and joked around until it was way later than we had intended, then piled into the van to head home. Forest commented that I was quieter than usual, and we ended up talking about the strange nature of relationships for a while. For the first time since we broke up, I'd seen Jeff smiling and relaxed, and joking with me. It was nice, and came as a great relief. I hadn't seen him smile in over a year. This was more like the Jeff I used to know. What was strange, that caused me to reflect a bit, was that suddenly we were both able to sit at the table and relax in each other's company, and I have no idea what caused the change. I only had 2 hard lemonades, so that can't have been it. I hope it's some sort of reflection of mutual happiness. Shelly's theory is that we were both just relaxed enough to not worry about how the situation. Perhaps that's true. It led me to musing about the nature of relationships and how they change. Forest and I talked about it all the way home.
Sunday morning as early as we could, we gulped down our oatmeal, and hit the road for Holly, determined to catch the closing day of the Renaissance Festival. We had been there together over a year ago, and spent much of the day marvelling at how wonderfully our lives had changed since then, and generally being sappily thrilled to be in each other's company. This really was one of the most pleasant weekends I've ever had, and Sunday's trip was the crowning piece. We wandered the festival, holding each other closely, drifting wherever we felt like going. We both love artwork, and I bought a really pretty print called Titania to put on my office wall. I'm really excited about it, it's beautiful, and reflects both my secret love of fantasy and public love of theatre. The artist will also be producing a complimentary one called Oberonsoon. I'm excited to see it. Today I will rush out and look for a frame for Titania on my lunch hour.
In our meanderings through the faire we smiled, laughed, shivered in the shade, and basked in the sun, and took time to kiss each other frequently. We watched the Don Juan and Miguel show and a joust, and ran into a couple of friends, too. We tried on hats and masks, played with swords, threw axes and knives (I'm good with a throwing knife, he's good with axes) and listened to some lovely music. We indulged ourselves with stew (him) and chili (me) in a bread bowl, a steaming mug of coffee (him) and cocoa (me), and later on we had desserts from the pastry stand. All the while we were grateful for how lucky we are to have come so far this year, and to have become such excellent mates for each other. As we sat in the sunshine at the joust, I actually got tears in my eyes from the sheer joy of realization of how much and how truly I love him.
At the end of the day, we followed the drummers, and bounced happily around the drum circle as the festival closed. I'm so glad we had the opportunity to go.
At any rate, now it's Monday, and I'm back at work, and back to dreaming about my sweety. I think I must be completely out of my mind.
I think the feeling I'm trying to describe is 'fulfillment'. I have more relationship than I could have dreamed for, much less needed. It's a wonderful suprise, and I'm grateful for it every day. I don't *need* a career, theatre, music, or any of the other elements in my life except that they support this wonderful relationship. I can't express to you how great that feels.
