This Christmas holiday my daughter and I went to see the musical Chicago on Broadway, a lovely gift from a friend. I love live theatre. It is the next best thing to participating in a performance. I feel as though I am a part of the cast. The past 4 years we have taken in a show on Christmas Day as a Christmas present to ourselves. Ticket prices for Christmas Day performances are inflated and with the exception of Premium seating, the price is the same no matter where you choose to sit in many theatres. I prefer to sit in the Upper Mezzanine, 1st row center but this year we were unable to secure seats in that section of the theatre so we purchased tickets for Orchestra seating. Great seats, 3rd and 4th from the aisle, but then it's hard to find a bad seat in the Ambassador Theatre.
Once seated, my daughter pointed out that she had been listening to a lively conversation taking place in the row behind us. A young woman was recounting the details of a failed relationship with her ex boyfriend to the older man sitting on her left. It seems that the ex wanted a relationship with someone who would give birth to several babies, stay home, spend his unlimited fortune and participate daily in lots of meaningless projects. She wasn't going to sign up for that, so she split. The ex found someone more suitable and she is happy for him.
Privately I was beginning to feel really good about our seating. The seats in front of us had not yet been claimed and it was 10 minutes before curtain time. Maybe they wouldn't come. Maybe these were the other available seats that I saw online and decided not to purchase. No, that didn't make sense, it was the row in front of mine so I would have purchased them if they were available. I tried not to get too overjoyed at the prospect of this amazing view, an easy task for me since I suffer from the "waiting for the other shoe to fall syndrome".
The family sitting behind us had lots to talk about. They used this time before the curtain call to catch up on various family news. Turns out the older man sitting next to the young woman previously mentioned is her grandfather. Grandma, grandpa, 2 granddaughters and a grandson in law were out on the town. Being more interested in people watching as I always am, the sound of their voices was just background noise to me until my interest was peeked by the grandmother's statement "The past 6 months have been much worse, I don't know what I am going to do". She went on to say she understands he (the grandfather) is not in control of what is happening to him and as he slowly slips away, she finds herself getting frustrated and losing her patience more often to the point where she yells. The grandson in law asked what help had been provided by the doctor and before she could answer the grandfather stood up and announced that he needed to switch seats. It was like Abbott and Costello trying to play musical chairs as they weaved about behind me in the cramped space, knocking me in the head repeatedly with their coats and Playbills. AAAGGGHHH!!!
Five minutes before curtain time and they showed up. All 4 of them. Two amazons and 2 short people. Like bookends the 2 short people sat on either side of the amazons. I couldn't believe it, they had to sit together? There went my view. I sighed and began to wiggle about to locate the best angle for me to capture as much of the performance as possible and praying the amazons in front of me wouldn't be swaying from side to side during the show.
The lights dimmed, the curtain went up, the orchestra began to play and the Grandfather wanted to change seats again. Grandma had a few stern words with him and he sat down.
I discovered by positioning my folded trench coat behind me in the upper part of my seat, I no longer sunk as far down. I now had a slightly better view of the stage. I noticed the amazons were taking advantage of the sinking effect the seats provided and with my stretching to sit up, my view got even better. This made me happy.
Grandpa really wanted to change seats. This time Grandma had a mini discussion with the family trying to convince them they should let Grandpa switch seats again. When she was met with opposition from the family, she disclosed that Grandpa is prone to screaming and temper tantrums, something she has been dealing with increasingly in the past few months.
So throughout the performance, Grandpa kept changing seats and I kept getting whacked in the head. No excuse me, pardon or I'm sorry from the family. Just head whacking. Remember that new sense of peace I talked about in an earlier blog post, well I'm trying, I'm trying. Had I not overheard the family conversation prior to the rounds of pre-concussion prep, in perfect Amanda form, I would have turned around and read them the riot act; complete with an all telling facial expression. But no, I was bound by an internal voice of compassion, reason and understanding for another's struggle to keep things as normal as possible for a loved one.
My friend speculates that I am In Flow, I am beginning to believe her. I thought about the Grandmother's comment of how her husband was slipping away. These people were out for a family gathering on Christmas Day and wanted Grandpa to be included. Who knows, maybe he'll remember the day or parts of the day. I guess they'll be happy if he remembers who they are and any of the day.
I leaned slightly forward for the remainder of the performance.
This day, this family got lucky; they experienced me and were sucked up into my flow. They could have been seated behind anyone but they were seated behind me and I am learning to understand, accept and appreciate being In Flow.
The show was fabulous! I would love to see it again, minus all the head whacking. As for the crick in my neck I developed from leaning forward and stretching upwards over the amazons, I wrapped a hot pack around my neck and shoulders and drank a glass of wine when I got home.
1 comment:
simply beautiful, amanda. because i know you, i can say this experience is yet another example of how you have made a conscious decision in your life to recognize and value your connection with your environment--other people. we are connected whether we like it or not. and that connection works in both directions--we simultaneously affect and are affected, whether we realize it or not. beautifully done. thanks.
Post a Comment