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Tuesday Night at the Theater

Some days 1964 seems more real than 2014. I might be walking down a street in Manhattan, but I could just as, or even more easily, be sitting at the little maple desk in my bedroom pretending to do my French homework and thinking about a cute boy in school. Tonight is one of those nights. If I close my eyes I feel the breeze through the screen and catch just a whiff of the lilacs that are blooming in our yard in Hartford. It is May 1964 and I am finishing the eighth grade.

If anyone had told that eighth grade girl that fifty years later she would go to the theater as easily as doing homework, that girl would have been amazed and laughed at the thought. Going to the theater was special and not something one did casually on a Tuesday night. I didn't know that I would see my first Broadway show in the summer of 1965 and begin a lifelong love affair with theater.

Tonight I saw an off-Broadway play set in 1971. I am sure the memories evoked by the play brought back the Hartford years, but as I walked to the bus I was struck at just how casually I was going to the theater on a Tuesday night, and how different my life is than the life I imagined in 1964. How amazingly different...

An awesome night of theater. Great acting -- a one person show is so hard to do -- and reflections on the issue of race in America, through the life of Louis Armstrong. 


This was the my view walking to the bus tonight. 

I marvel at my life sometimes, and all of things I couldn't have imagined in 1964. While there were bumps along the way -- in some cases mountains -- I never could have anticipated, there are still May nights when the most normal thing in the world is to go to the theater, and for those days, I am profoundly grateful.   

As always, thanks for visiting. Take care and have a wonderful Wednesday! 

10 comments

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Neat post, Carol. It is crazy when comparing our lives NOW to years ago... Things have really changed --and back in the '60's, we never would have thought we'd have the lives we have today... How special is that...

YOU are lucky to live in such an awesome place --and can attend the theater anytime you want to....

Hugs,
Betsy

TARYTERRE said...

You are lucky to live in a place where you can do that. ENJOY!

Starting Over, Accepting Changes - Maybe said...

What a beautiful picture of the city at night.

The bumps along the way have led you to a place that gives you joy. How fortunate you are.

I'm mostly known as 'MA' said...

Taking a look back like that is great for reminding us just how much things have changed. So many things happen over the years that make for some great memories, but it's important to keep making new ones. I love the picture of New York at night.

Sola Scriptura said...

I can relate to how you feel. Sometimes I look around and am amazed at how different (but great) my life is now.

Susie said...

Buttercup, I love this post. When I was in the 8th grade...I longed to get off the corner of Cleveland and Mill, that was my universe...one I almost hated..I longed for culture. Since that time, long ago, I have seen and done many things I had only dreamed ....but now that I am older and my parents have passed and my family rarely have get togethers...I long for one more day at that corner. Does that even make sense? It is hard to look back at times. Blessings,xoxo,Susie

Su-sieee! Mac said...

Your description of today and 1964 makes me think of all the TAB and Scholastic books I read as a kid in which the setting of the stories was in New York. I grew up in rural California. Yet, I felt more comfortable reading stories in New York than my everyday life. Funny how that goes. :-)
The View from the Top of the Ladder

Mevely317 said...

What a sweet retrospective!

Now I'm curious: Won't you tell, what 1965 performance first sparked your love for the theater?
(Mine was "Carousel" ... a long, long way from Broadway.)

Melinda said...

Great memories.

Sounds like a great production.

M : )

Ida said...

Love that night view of the city.