Tag Growth

Bright Yellow Daffodils and Dirty Old Cars

Michael 5 Comments

It seems the bright yellow daffodils and colorful tulips popped out of nowhere to boldly welcome Spring!  That’s not an original thought. I stole it from a text I got a few days ago. My friend opened a conversation with that. She went on to say how exciting spring is and, how it fills her with wonder watching the world transform as nature awakens from its log winter slumber. As the chat continued she talked about her neighbor, bundled against the still chilly air while he conducted his own transformation, washing the last of winter from his car, wiping not only the visible exterior but getting under the bumpers, between the open spaces on the wheels, and in all those other nooks and crannies nobody sees whether the car is sitting in the garage or speeding down the highway.

How does one get from daffodils to dirty cars in the same conversation? They naturally go together of course! Consider how those daffodils and tulips, how the crocuses and all the other early bulbs bring forth their colorful displays. They spend the winter buried under layers of dirt, push they way through the surface, some rain comes and nurtures the part we don’t see until with a little coaxing, a shimmering flower blooms with a burst of color. Not so different is the car that spent its winter buried under layers of road grime and salt residue. No matter how often you spray it down with soapy water out of a hose it won’t really shine until you do a little coaxing, getting down to the wheel and bumper level and give it the attention is needs to pull it through the dirt.

Daffodils and dirty cars. We fit in that discussion also. We too need a good cleaning after sitting dormant for so long. We need to give ourselves that attention and wipe away our stress, wash off the fatigue, polish the shiny parts of what makes us burst on the scene, coaxing ourselves into a riot of bright ideas and invigorated thoughts. We need to wake ourselves from the dormancy of complacency and refresh, rejuvenate, and re-energize our lives a few times a year.

Now would be one of those good times. Now while there are flowers blooming and cars shining under the sun climbing hirer into the sky each day. Now while all things of nature and of man are going under their yearly rebirth and renewal, now would be a good time to act like a daffodil or a dirty car and do a little regrowth and self-polishing.

What do daffodils, dirty cars, and you have in common? If you can answer that you’re ready to boldly welcomed Spring.

 

That Play’s The Thing, That Thing They Do

Michael Leave a comment

Have you ever been to a local community theater production of … anything? 

Those of you who answered yes are excused from the remainder of this missive.  You’re welcome to stay but you probably won’t read anything you don’t already know.  Then again, maybe you better stick around.  You never know what’s going to march across this screen.

Those of you who answered no are hereby put on double secret probation and you can’t get off of it until you go.  For Heaven’s sake, go!

Really, we are that taken by the power of the local community theater, from the over-acting to the kitschy program books, to the recorded music, to the cramped theaters.  This is entertainment.

Ok, this is also a little weird.  Grown people reliving their high school spring musical days?  Actually, it’s not so weird.  Grown people honing the talents they discovered in one of the “youth is wasted on the young” activities we’ve all been a part of but few keep alive.

Think of the other activities that made up your younger days and how you felt about them then.  Swimming every weekend at the local pool, knowing for sure that Greg Louganis was no match for your diving skills.  Confidently matching across the football field stepping two, turning left, stepping eight, twice in place, turn right, all while playing the flight song on your clarinet.  Even Benny Goodman couldn’t match your style.  Speeding along on the Schwinn, Day 4 of the Tour de France and your fourth day in the yellow shirt.  Taking the layup to the hoop, your hands above the rim, your signature shoes shimmering in the light of the studio lamps filming the commercial that used to feature that has been, Michael Somebodyorother.  Healthy activities every one.  Healthy imaginations to go with them.  Imagination.  A commodity many fear will never again reach the peak when we were young now that computer games have overtaken recreation as the child’s national pastime.

Now wait a minute, who is to say it has.  Don’t kids still ride bikes, and swim on weekends, and play high school sports, and march in bands?  Maybe we’re being a bit unfair.  Their imagination is still working.  It’s just taking a different turn.  And there are still high school musicals every spring.  (You knew eventually we’d get back to that, didn’t you?)

Those high school musicals.  Who didn’t walk out on to the stage knowing his or her next entrance would be at the Tony Awards?  But while the swimmer and the musician and the sports figure in us have stepped aside so we can fit into our adult life, the actor has found the community theater.  The actor, the director, the stage hand, the producer, the set decorator, the wardrobe and make-up artists all still have a home, a legitimate home where imagination still features raising the silver medallion of the masks comedy and tragedy.  So we applaud the actor, the director, the stage hand, and the others for sharing their imagination and presenting some of the most energetic live theater you’ll ever experience.

Paul Newman said, “To be an actor you have to be a child.”  We agree.  You have to have the wonder that children know and adults crave.  While the professional gets the great opportunity to live that wonder throughout a lifetime most of us only get fleeting moments of it as adults.  Throughout those little theaters tucked away in every neighborhood where lines are tortuously rehearsed, directions are painstakingly prepared, and stages are carefully dressed, the wonder of youth bathes everyone who enters.  Even the audience.

Now, that’s what we think.  Really.  How ‘bout you?