Hello friends. Missed you yesterday. We are on our way home from the anniversary weekend plus a few other significant dates wrapped in there.
The Marriott hotel we stayed at was sold out so getting two adjoining rooms (who wants to get arrested for child abandonment on their anniversary?) took extra maneuvering by Marriott’s good staff along with my husband’s gentle ways. We landed in an upgraded suite the size of a small country for the same previous price. I’ve never been in something like that and we all felt like superstars.
(This is sounding newsy.)
Anywho, the next day we joined my brother and his family at a matinée showing of Les Miserables at the Ahmanson Theater – we’ve planned this for a year. There we were; a few adults and a long string of children all polished and shiny. We had bought feathered masquerade masks to play it up and were dressed to the nines. The house was sold out.
We had prepared ourselves with the soundtrack, Victor Hugo‘s unabridged printed English translation (didn’t finish that yet this time around – hoping still), the 25th Anniversary recording at the The O2 and lots of chat. The kids were happy to go with their cousins and you can imagine that all should have gone well.
What to say. Some things we must prepare for in other ways.
Sitting there, my son on my lap and just the slightest sound of tearing chocolate bar wrapper, and the head in front of us turned into a face with a mouth,
Be quiet!
Some minutes later, my son was drinking from his water bottle,
For G–‘s sake! Put that away!
There was more from our theater-head and after three otherwise beautiful hours, Les Miserables was over. A lady a few chairs away from the theater-head whom I think was in his party said,
Next time choose to take them to a Disney Production, would you?
Later in the car, my girls were wondering about the, “super mean people in front of us,” and I remembered the words still fresh in my thoughts,
To love another man is to see the face of God.
How to love? By starting with loving me. Who knows about those people? I don’t. I don’t know anything about them at all. I can just work my junk over and grow my own bank. Then I can love even people who are mean to my beautiful kids. I can think about their possible frontal lobe dementia, disinhibition and medication non-compliance and empathize. I can think about their torn families and children who’ve abandoned them and come home only on Christmas. I can think about their missed opportunities to claim their freedom to self-care. By starting with me, I can enter into their hurt and see that through their eyes, they see an angry unsafe world and they are suffering. That is something of what Victor Hugo may have talked about.
When I was younger, a one o’clock Sunday matinée was when kids came but maybe not any more. Ah well. I saw the face of God.
Self-Care Tip – Love another man to see the face of God.
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It’s interesting you say this…that is the walk I am on. Ahhhh. I’ve been having a hard time lately with this, especially when others are hurting you, abusing your kindness, and mistreating you. This just confirms to me that I am on the right path!
trek on. let us know how u r.
I’m sad that your special occasion was spoilt my those horrid people. congrats on your anniversary, Doc.
thx cin. i am thankful for the the company I’ve been given during these rolling years.
special occasion not ruined though. just flavored a little 😉
I read many of the classic comics. They prepared me to read the great classics in college and beyond. They helped me follow and hold the sometimes obscure or complicated evolution of the plot. It helped to have a picture of characters and setting in mind while navigating through the adult versions.
cool. i’m glad to hear that. my nephew is thick in them right now and perhaps, perhaps…
Les Mis! Feathered masks! Dressed in finery! YES! That sounds fabulous. Thank goodness for people like you who like to have fun.
Oh, pooh pooh on the haters. Crotchety things… In my theater experiences, the Sunday matinee is totally the legitimate time to take a family. I know brushes with haters always leaves some yuckiness on the skin that is hard to shake off. It seems demented to me, that other people try to kill off joy like that. But, that’s their problem, isn’t it?
And I bet THEY didn’t have feathered masks, or adjoining rooms, or a year of delightful butterflies in anticipation and excitement, or even the love and joy of attending with a big happy family. What a lovely experience of culture and the arts you all planned.
People looking askance at children in the theater should remember: if we don’t teach our children when they are young how to attend the theater and the etiquette surrounding the live theater, then the theater and its customs will eventually die off. It is, and should be, a thing of beauty when we see parents giving this cultural gift to their children.
Most importantly, what did your kiddos think of Les Mis? “On my Own” is one of my favorites… Was this a good production?
thx buddy. makes me think of “Fancy Nancy” books. kids did great! and luv’d it i believe. they luv the music and r a little scared of the story so what more to ask for?
the production was not like the one we watched from London by any means but they did good. some of what they did was great and it was all great to b a part of. i give it a thumbs up.
Sana, happy 4th of July! Awesome that you’re exposing your children to the arts. Who cares what those grumpy people think! What your children are going to remember is the time spent together and how you and your husband reacted to those peoples behavior! What a great lesson learned!
thank u dear catherine. u too. yes who cares about gumpy mumpy’s as we call them. thx for the forecast. looks good.
hear , hear all the above comments. For the issue you raise about seeing the face of God– “He” is in all the faces of our brothers and sisters. As so you say. We will all be saved holding onto our brothers hands.
The attackers were crying out of need for love or fear. That is the only reason to attack. And the past is an illusion because it doesn’t exist, only in our dream. Don’t let your ego get hurt by the attackers. They can’t touch your spirit or your children’s spirit.
i luv your perspective clar. thank u for sharing it w us.
It takes a strong woman to see past the theater-heads and stay in the moment while enjoying a beautiful memorable time with the family.
thx LV. it can b distracting
well a while back you siad i showed couradge well it took a lot of doing but i moved its tuff very tuff mixing with people but im surviveing its sad you didnt have a good time at the marriot i love that hotel the coffe is strong ive had a lot of bad people in my life but i forgive them becuase its the only way of moving on
this is exciting kevin. what adventure. keep us posted mr. courage.