We all have the ability to hear messages that we should pay attention to, one that is not a coincidence, but something that is meant for your personal ears. I heard the message to experience joy loud and clear. The message was to live with no walls, honoring and celebrating the gifts of others. Everyone has an important path. Acknowledging it may be one of life's greatest lessons because while each of us has a separate path, we are all connected and delicate meetings occur throughout our lives that have particular meaning. Pay attention to the meetings.
I celebrated my 24th wedding anniversary today. I have to say that time has gone by so quickly and it seems like just yesterday that I married Andre. If I have learned anything over the past 24 years it is that life is bumpy, messy and wondrous. And in those 24 years, there have been tears, joy and marvel that I can look at him and still feel the warm thump in my heart that we think only belongs to the twenty year olds.
After 24 years of marriage and one year away from 50, I am good with life being a little raggedy. It has to be that way in order to live fully. If we life confined only to what we know, we miss out on so much. If we live in the shadow of shoulds, we live in judgment of ourselves and other. If we live in fear of age, we become old by default instead of gathering the wisdom that years offer. I am good with approaching 50 and have no problem with my next birthday. I feel like I have so much to do, that 50 is so young in the age of juicy living! When you live juicy, you will not measure everything by years, but my moments. Years matter far less.
For our anniversary, we went to see a production of Hair at the Bushnell Theater in Hartford. What a great performance. The performers sang, danced and acted with such passion, love and energy that my heart raced through the entire production. Their outward expression of their gifts and the willingness to selflessly share it the audience was humbling. I wondered how many of them were told to give up their dreams and get real jobs. I was so happy to see their dreams and gifts dancing before me.
An amazing thing happened. The performers were dancing on the stage and in the isles. The performer playing 'Hud' invited me to dance with him in the isle. Yes, you heard me! Before I knew it, I was dancing in the isle of the Bushnell with Hud. It gets better. The performer playing 'Berger' joined us and suddenly I was in a wonderful 'man sandwich' that you most definitely can be jealous of! It was great fun and I felt like I was in the show! To top it off, at the end of the show, the cast invited folks from the audience to join them in the last song. Oh yah, I was there baby! I handed my purse to Andre and went up on stage to dance with the cast and folks from the audience. Andre was such a good sport through all this, just shook his head, and celebrated my craziness.
I honor the talents of the cast of Hair and thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to be a part of it. It only happened because I allowed myself to freely participate in the gifts and talents of others; to not be too 'old' to feel the joy of dancing in an isle with a complete stranger and not care who was looking. It was electrifying! The message was clear. There is more where that came from and I will live each day to experience that joy again in whatever package it comes in.
