Tues, May 17
... Who could ask for anything more
What a day for reconnecting with my roots.
First, a checkup at the family doctor that I've been seeing ever since I was born. Not that huge a deal, but when taken in perspective with the rest of the day, it was a fitting beginning.
The real fun started when I headed out to Strathmore this afternoon. I'd made plans with the rest of my family to go see their school play (Crazy For You, a Gershwin musical), so I headed out in the afternoon to try to catch a few teachers at the school.
I saw Mrs. Hune, my French teacher, whom I've actually kept in decent touch with over the years since I graduated, and then caught up with Breanna, a good friend from high school who's working there this year. We've kept sort of in touch over the years, but not really close, so it was really good to see her and catch up on what she's doing and what life's like for her these days. We talked for a while, then went out for coffee and continued our conversation.
After coffee, I had about an hour to kill before the show, so I drove around town for a while, driving past all my old haunts--my elementary school, middle school, junior high, high school, friends' houses, stores, work... all the places that I spent so much time at.
Then, to the school for the play. Just being back at a high school production was a strange experience. I remember how defining those were in my pursuit of theatre as a lifestyle, and it's strange to think that it's been so many years since those first shows. And how far I've come since then. And how definitive those will be for some of the students in the show tonight. And how good we thought we were back then. And how much we didn't know that we didn't know. And how far we've all come since high school. It was just interesting. Strange, on so many levels. But good.
And then, just to add to the "rootsiness" of the evening, I went out for coffee with my aunt. My cousin Becky was going to Tim Horton's with a friend after the show, and my aunt needed to go and wait for her. I hadn't eaten yet, so I went with her and we had coffee and chatted.
Add all of that together with the conversation I had with my grandma last night, and it adds up to a very "back to my roots" kind of day. Everyone needs one of those every now and then, just to be reminded of where we came from. No matter how much I change, no matter how much the small town that I came from changes (and believe me, there have been some big changes since I lived there!), the roots are all still there, and there's something about it that's calming to go back to on some level.
Oh, I love my days off. And now, it's back to work for 6 days straight (I think--or maybe it's just that I work a 6-day week this week), and then on my next day off, I'm out of here, heading to Creston! Oh, so excited.....
infinite || abyss
posted at 11:35 p.m.
