Overture, Entre'act, Finale...

Good evening friends,

It is nearing 1:30 in the morning and I have just woken up from a few hours of sleep. Oddly enough, I'm not tired anymore. Very interesting, I know. I think I am just nervous about the fact that my life currently hangs in the balance between Minneapolis and Cedar Falls, Iowa. I thought I would take advantage of this sudden awakeness and clear my mind by writing to my favorite internet friends. Yes, friends. I realize I do know most of my readers in person, but even to those who might just read my words as they are passing by... I feel we are somehow connected on this giant spinning orb we call earth.
Anyway, on with the blog...
Anyone who knows me, knows that I have quite an active imagination... and, dare I say, a flair for the dramatic. Granted, I'm not the girl who wears beatnick berets and black turtlenecks... but I was the six year old who made castles out of dining room chairs and bed sheets. I was the girl who somehow found ways to parallel every episode of Dawson's Creek to her own life and, yes, I still do secretly yearn for my oh-so-distant love story to be pulled from the script of a good Nora Ephron movie. I'll admit it... I love the intense highs and lows of life. Romance and Sadness, Joy and heartache. They cohabitate on our life lines and, in my opinion, living would be a dull existence without them.

Earlier this evening (when I was supposed to be concentrating on making a large sugar free skim honey vanilla latte) I was thinking about my life. Or more so... life in general. I have always said that I wish life was like an old Roger's and Hammerstein musical. Where a simple thought could start a chorus of song. Where those around you would somehow know all the steps to the intricate dance that you spontaneously break into. Feelings could be expressed with a simple comment to the proverbial audience and everything would work out OK in the end. Then I realized, with the exception of the song and dance, our lives are our own personal Oklahoma's and South Pacific's.

Before the show, the audience is prepared by the overture. The 9-month overture in our case. This signals the audience to take their seats, quiet their conversations, and get ready for the show. Act One introduces the main character. She learns, she grows, she experiences. Supporting roles are added in as necessary and inevitably become integral parts of the storyline. The story continues and just as one might think our leading lady has it all figured out, she gets herself into a pickle. Sometimes humorous, sometimes frightening... but always a pickle.
INTERMISSION- This is when our lives seem to even out. Nothing exciting, nothing new. Time enough for the audience to grab a drink of water and stand in-line at the lady's room for a while before returning to their seats. Act Two, the shorter of the two acts, starts with a rousing Entre'act, a reminder of where we left off. Somehow, with the help of the supporting characters and good script writing from the Author Himself, our heroine finds her way out of the aforementioned pickle and all ends well to the sounds of the reprise...reminding us all of where we came from and how exactly we ended up alright.

Although I would be lying if I said I didn't yearn for a full-cast song and dance at times, I'm content with knowing that I have a little bit of the Sound of Music in everyday life.

G*night friends,
tempa