New York City.

We are back in the city, sleeping in our own cozy beds, for the moment. About 10 days, or so, we’re back doing ‘local’ shows.

Today, our show was in Terrytown, NY – about 1/2 hour north of the city. Charming town, the theatre we were in was (I think) 120 years old, or so. Absolutely wonderful; I saw both Paul and Greg taking pictures, so hopefully we’ll have some up on the blog for all to see, very soon.

Before the show, we added another word to Briana’s vocabulary: Taint. I’m sure we all know what it ‘taint… I was assured it was in the dictionary, but alas, on dictionary.com there was only the conventional usage present. However, I did google it, and found definitions on URBANdictionary.com. Fabulous, the internet.

After the show, for the most part we dispersed. Briana’s audition for Julliard was this afternoon; Patrick drove in from Jersey, and took off after load-out. The remaining crew found a fabulous little market to pick up some lunch, before heading back to the city.

On a personal note…

Today was Bob Bank’s funeral, in Prague. A week ago, we found out that he’d unexpectedly passed away. Hana, his wife, sent us the funeral notice via email; I didn’t know it, but Bob’s middle name was Warren – just like my darling husband. He was 56 years old.

No one in the cast knew Bob, besides me; all of us are new to each other (except for Paul and Laura), so perhaps this mention of him on our tour-blog is odd, or out of place. Except that, well… today was a really good day… a beautiful day. And all too often, I take good days like this one for granted. I waste them, toss them aside, as I think ahead, to what I ‘should’ be doing, or what maybe I’d rather be doing.

Yet, today… my ‘work’ for the day was comprised of entertaining several hundred children. We reveled in their screams of laughter and delight, as their tiny brains set to work on our story, helping us to tell it. Now, I am home with my husband, and my kittens twitch in their slumber, nearby. And today, as every day, my friends (old and new) share with me their thoughts, their humor, their passions for strong coffee, conversation, and a well-earned beer at the end of the day. They help me to appreciate the beauty of an old theatre, explore an exotic little shop, and point out a stream cutting across a snowy forest.

If I have learned anything this week, it is that …I don’t really know a thing. I don’t know if there’s a such thing as a soul; I don’t know if there’s a supreme being, or human collective consciousness… but what I do know that life is short. Bitter, at times; really, really tough, too. But… in the right light, life is exceptionally beautiful. I am eager to see more of it, to laugh more often and more heartily; and to think less, feel more. But for now, I'll be content just to escape into sleep, and dreaming.