Sunday, February 26, 2012

The Play Has Ended And Fabio Has Come Home


Well, I have to say that if we did that play for about fifty more times, it would really have gotten good. There would have been very little resemblance between what we were doing onstage and what was written in the script, but that could only have been for the better.
We had fun with it last night.
We threw ourselves boldly into places we'd never thrown ourselves before. We improvised, we added bits, we became whores-for-laughter.
Why the hell not?
It was so GREAT to come offstage, change my costume and throw my previous one in a wad in a bag to take home instead of hanging everything up carefully for the next performance.
I think I'm just too old for this. I don't know. But I know I gave it my best shot and Jon and I went over lines before the last performance and dang, if that's not trying, I don't know what is.

And so now I shall resume my life, the one I was leading before the play or The Play as it looms in my mind and that tattered and torn script is history and as I said to someone last night who said, "How in the world did you learn all those lines?"
My brain is already consciously working on forgetting every one of them.

It really is a more profound transition than you would think. I will no longer ease myself back into sleep by going over scenes in my head. I had thought after Steel Magnolias that I would never, ever forget those lines but of course I have. The lines from this play were never set in stone in my head, more like set in Jello, so there you go- the task will be easier but it's still a change. I can read a damn book or magazine without feeling guilty that I'm not running lines.

But you know, it was good. It was good in that I got out of the house, I did things with people whom I enjoy doing things with, I was forced to learn new things. I had to change my routine. I adapted. At my age, that's a good thing.

And now what? Oh well, that baby's coming soon. And speaking of birth, there's a video of a birth on youtube which is absolutely the most amazing birth-video I've ever seen and I've never seen quite as joyful a birth in real life, either although I have seen (and had) some joyful births.
Here's the link if you want to go there.
It is quite graphic in that yes, you see a baby coming out of a vagina, and watching it might actually change your perspective about women's bodies and joy and life and childbirth and oh, I don't know. You know, almost everything. But only watch it if you're prepared for all of that.

So yes, Lily's baby is due in about two weeks and I just want to rip everything out of the garden and have Mr. Moon till it all up and replant it all and I want to tend it like a mother tends a baby and I don't now what else I will be doing. Watching Owen. Watching him grow, watching him eat yogurt, watching him practice his Kung Fu moves, watching him completely and joyfully destroy my house, watching him become a big brother. I hope I'll be watching him learn to use the potty before too long. Seriously.

I guess I'll be cooking healthy meals (after the one I've already cooked this morning which involved biscuits and bacon) exercising more and I'll be remembering what it's like to change a newborn's diaper and maybe I'll write that novel. Having Fabio in the office with that stern expression on his face could help me with that. "Do it!" he will be saying with a German/Austrian accent. He is actually holding a chain and in my imagination I can pretend that he is about to hit me with it if I don't get my butt in the seat and write.
I honestly can't tell you why but it just tickles me to pieces to have that life-sized cardboard cut-out of a man wearing fringed pants and boots in my office. Tickles me to death. I wonder what Owen will say when he sees him? This could be hysterical.

But mostly what I'll be doing is just what I always do which is to despair and rejoice and to wonder and to wander and to cut and chop and weed and get dirty and gather eggs and clean nests and kiss the ones I love and then to fall in love with a new tiny person- rapture, in short.
When that baby gets born, it'll be rapture and I'll be raptured and enraptured and all of us will fall in love with all of us even more.

That's my plan.

And I'm sticking to it.

And of course I'll be writing about all of it and about the wisteria as it swells and blooms and about the signs of life seen from here in Lloyd because writing about all of it here is my joy and my thrill and my way of trying to make sense of it all.

All right! Happy Sunday! Day to go tear down that set, to see everyone again but this time with the pressure off and the overalls on and then...
Well.
Who knows? Not me.

Yours truly from the Church of the Batshit Crazy where one never truly knows what will happen next.

Love...Ms. Moon

11 comments:

  1. it is soooo exciting waiting for the birth of a new little one. I'll have to ck that video later as it was having trouble downloading.

    I was a my grandson's home birth last August -- it was mighty mighty.

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  2. I can't believe it's not butter.
    (I couldn't resist).
    Congrats on what sounds like a fun and successful last night of the play. I swear that play was perfect timing in between your Cozumel trip and the new baby coming and the garden prep.
    That 1974 birth video was amazing. The mom was so happy and just listened to her body. I get sick when I see the Baby Story births (or any) where the nurses make the mom strain (cause she feels nothing) and they count to 10 while she pushes.

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  3. Woo hoo! And I can't wait to see that video.

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  4. Fabio is fabulous, but he can't compare to a new baby. Or even and "old" baby.
    Spoken like a grandmother, huh?

    Congrats on the coming down of the curtain. Now a new curtain will soon rise.

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  5. Ah, despairing and rejoicing. I now it well.

    Congratulations on finishing the play. Congratulations more on doing it!

    I feel girl feelings about this baby. What does Lily think?

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  6. Fabio makes for some fine decor.

    I am so proud of you for being able to do that play.

    And maybe I'm a tiny bit jealous of the new baby coming although I'm sure one day I'll get one too. One day.

    Have a wonderful day.

    I'll watch that video now.

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  7. I'm so ready to meet that new baby.

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  8. Taradharma- That video is worth the trouble. I am SO glad that women today are deciding to have home births. Makes my heart so happy.

    Michele R- That Baby Story show is shit. It completely demonstrates how we have replaced childbirth with a medical procedure. I HATE it. HATE IT!!!!!
    (I can't believe it's not butter either.)

    Elizabeth- It's awesome.

    Denise- Oh you are right. New babies and Fabio are in completely different categories but I can appreciate both.

    Jo- She's thinking boy. But none of us know for sure and that's the exciting thing!

    Jeannie- Yeah, it's for sure easier to control being in a play than it is getting a grand baby.

    DTG- Will it be a little Jason? A little Lily? A teeny-tiny-ish WHAT??? WHO????
    Aw. I'm so melty inside, thinking about it.

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  9. I'm excited about the video and about your baby, too. Raleigh's birth was pretty joyous, even if Harvey was a nervous wreck, and when I asked him to talk me through it, he was unable to speak. (I was scheduled for a repeat C-section but Raleigh had other plans that did not involve waiting around for a surgical team on a Saturday morning. Harvey was scared to death). After much prompting, Harvey was able to sing the ABC Song, to the delight of everyone in Labor & Delivery.

    Going to see if this video could possibly be as endearing as that one....

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  10. Pamela- I LOVE sweet birth stories. I adore babies who won't wait for the "proper" time which involves surgery. YAY! What a lovely memory to have of your Harvey.

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  11. You are amazing to have learned those lines. I don't think that I will watch the video--well, maybe I will but not right now.

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.