Right before my wedding, my friend "Jack" came to town to share in my celebration. He arrived a few days earlier to hang out and also visit other friends. The night we hung out, part of it was spent in my car (not doing anything, obviously....he's gay), listening to the soundtrack for The Last Five Years. He even gave it to me as a gift (not for my wedding, given the subject matter, but because he loved it so much and we always would bond over musicals in the past). Little did he know, without me even seeing the show in the eight and a half years since I first heard the music, it also has become a favorite of mine.
I'm used to hearing the music of a show before seeing it, but most of the time I will eventually see the show. That has yet to happen in this case. The show and I just keep missing each other. The timing never works out right. Still, I follow the stories of Cathy and Jamie (a guy, in this case) like I know them personally....
Spoilers ahead....
Jamie is Jewish and has met his dream girl, a "Shiksa Goddess" named Cathy. Jamie is an aspiring writer who soon gets a book deal. Cathy, in the meantime, wants to be an actress and deals with grueling auditions and traveling to small towns for summer productions. Their story is told in two directions. Jamie starts at the beginning of their relationship, showing all the hope and romance. Cathy starts at the end of their relationship, still hurting from its demise. Their stories meet in the middle, when Jamie asks Cathy to share "The Next Ten Minutes" with him and proposes to her. Then we see him trying to resist the advances of other women while convincing himself that only "In a Perfect World," it would just be Cathy and himself and he wouldn't have to explain to other women that he's married or explain to Cathy that he's not flirting with or staring at anyone else. In the meantime, Cathy is reversing through the story, talking about a rather frustrating audition as she's "Climbing Uphill." We hear more about her relationship goals and how she can do better than that of her friend who got knocked up before graduation. At the end of Jamie's story, we find him in bed with another woman and blaming Cathy for ruining his happiness with this new flame. Eventually, he realizes he could never rescue Cathy and says goodbye for good, while Cathy has just had the perfect first date with Jamie and is saying "Goodbye Until Tomorrow."
The original cast of this show was Norbert Leo Butz, who also played Fiyero in Wicked, and Sherie Rene Scott, who played Amneris in Aida. Their voices are both great for their roles. Norbert knows how to play Jamie's voice to sound both sweet and arrogant at various times throughout the story. I don't know whether to love him or hate him. And Sherie plays Cathy with such beautiful vulnerability that I cry even during her upbeat songs. My favorite of her songs is "A Part of That." She talks about how frustrating it is when Jamie goes off into his own little world, but when he comes back down to earth and smiles at her, she knows she's had something to do with that smile. It was written by Jason Robert Brown, who also wrote the music and lyrics for Parade (never saw that or heard the music, but I'm sure it's great if TLFY is any indication of his style).
I don't know what it is about this show that draws me in every time I hear the soundtrack. Maybe it's the style of the music, where the singers don't need a huge orchestra to back them up. Maybe it's the pace of the story, since the characters switch places in time and yet we go back and forth between them and they have very little interaction with each other. Maybe it's the emotional quality of the story, where you're witnessing the hope that goes into a new relationship and are sad at the same time that it has ended. I think of how exciting and romantic things felt around and after I got married and it makes me sad to think that Jamie was all focused on other girls wanting his attention as soon as he got married. Meanwhile, Cathy was at a bookstore in Kentucky and supporting Jamie by purchasing his novel in front of another guy who was trying to hit on her.
Whatever it is, I hope I do get to see it performed live someday. I think it will be the ultimate catharsis for me and almost more powerful than seeing Rent, in some ways.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Thursday, October 25, 2012
A word from our sponsor
I've been blogging with three fabulous women for a year and a half now and have been enjoying all the fun topics we come up with week after week. If you want to see what we've discussed in the past, check out our posts here.
This week, Mom of Many picked the topic: What is your favorite commercial and why? (If you like more than one, that's ok.)
Before reading ahead, first see what everyone else had to say on this topic:
Froggie
Mom of Many
Moma Rock
I watch a lot of TV, but commercials don't stick with me all that often. Either we skip through them when we can, or I focus on checking e-mails or talking with whomever is in the room. Having said that, there are a few that stick out and I want to share some of those today.
Last year, when one of my close friends came over to watch Glee, we kept seeing this funny commercial for Velveeta cheesy skillets. After that, we kept saying "liquid gold" all the time. This commercial will always make me think of her, even though she lives far away now.
This one is even funnier, after watching the one above.
A while back, I saw this commercial about a monkey with a cold and couldn't stop laughing at how cute the monkey was. My husband teased me about my weird sense of humor and then kept pretending to be the monkey.
Most Super Bowl commercials are entertaining. I don't even watch the actual game, as I care more about what funny ads companies will come up with. Here's a great one from this past year, since I love M&M's and all. Who knew that the red M&M would have predicted Gangnam style dancing!
The "Dear Sophie" ad for Google. It makes me think of how fast my kids are growing and how I wish I did something clever like this. (I do keep lists of their quotes in a private blog for family and very close family friends.) I dare you to watch this commercial and not cry!
This is an oldie, but goodie. I loved this commercial when it came out in the winter of 1998 and I went and bought a performance fleece shirt as a result. I used to think the guy on the chair lift was hot. It's funny watching it now because it seems so cheesy. Still, anything with Carrie Donovan and her dog, Magic, is way better than today's Old Navy ads!
There you have it. I'd love to hear what your all-time favorite commercials are!
This week, Mom of Many picked the topic: What is your favorite commercial and why? (If you like more than one, that's ok.)
Before reading ahead, first see what everyone else had to say on this topic:
Froggie
Mom of Many
Moma Rock
I watch a lot of TV, but commercials don't stick with me all that often. Either we skip through them when we can, or I focus on checking e-mails or talking with whomever is in the room. Having said that, there are a few that stick out and I want to share some of those today.
Last year, when one of my close friends came over to watch Glee, we kept seeing this funny commercial for Velveeta cheesy skillets. After that, we kept saying "liquid gold" all the time. This commercial will always make me think of her, even though she lives far away now.
This one is even funnier, after watching the one above.
A while back, I saw this commercial about a monkey with a cold and couldn't stop laughing at how cute the monkey was. My husband teased me about my weird sense of humor and then kept pretending to be the monkey.
Most Super Bowl commercials are entertaining. I don't even watch the actual game, as I care more about what funny ads companies will come up with. Here's a great one from this past year, since I love M&M's and all. Who knew that the red M&M would have predicted Gangnam style dancing!
The "Dear Sophie" ad for Google. It makes me think of how fast my kids are growing and how I wish I did something clever like this. (I do keep lists of their quotes in a private blog for family and very close family friends.) I dare you to watch this commercial and not cry!
This is an oldie, but goodie. I loved this commercial when it came out in the winter of 1998 and I went and bought a performance fleece shirt as a result. I used to think the guy on the chair lift was hot. It's funny watching it now because it seems so cheesy. Still, anything with Carrie Donovan and her dog, Magic, is way better than today's Old Navy ads!
There you have it. I'd love to hear what your all-time favorite commercials are!
Thursday, October 18, 2012
On the sunny side of the street
I've been blogging with three fabulous women for a year and a half now and have been enjoying all the fun topics we come up with week after week. If you want to see what we've discussed in the past, check out our posts here.
This week, I picked the topic: Share your favorite memories of Sesame Street or talk about the role it has played in your life.
Before reading ahead, first see what everyone else had to say on this topic:
Froggie
Mom of Many
Moma Rock
My kids don't believe me when I tell them there was life on Sesame Street before Elmo became the big star and Snuffleupagus used to be invisible to everyone except Big Bird. I remember bits and pieces of the show before I was old enough to outgrow it. After that, I would catch episodes when I babysat and then eventually when my kids were big enough to understand it (of course, it was all about Elmo by then, and they got caught up in the Elmo's World craze).
I remember coming home from preschool and hanging out with two friends at one of their houses to watch Sesame Street and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood after that. I can't really tell you much of what happened on the show back in the day, as a lot of it was a blur. I'll share what I do remember though:
*The Beetles singing "Letter B" as a parody of "Let it Be."
*The magician who said "A la peanut butter and jelly sandwich"
*Ernie playing this game with Burt where he'd start with "I ONE the sandbox" and they'd work their way up to EIGHT, which obviously sounds like ATE. Ernie would give Burt a hard time about it. I found it hilarious and have since taught it to my kids.
*The pinball machine that does a song about numbers.
*Always finding the Count to be scary because I had a fear of vampires as a kid. Sorry, Count!
*Not liking Maria much, as I thought she was condescending to Big Bird. I picked up on that as a kid, for some reason. I liked Susan and Gordon though.
*"Sing. Sing a song..."
*Learning that AGUA means water in Spanish, but I always thought they said AQUA.
*Super Grover!
*"C is for Cookie, that's good enough for me!"
*Kermit occasionally making an appearance.
*When the theme song/intro had kids playing in a park.
When I was in Sunday school, we did a unit on death and they let us watch the episode where Mr. Hooper dies. I had to go someplace with my family and thus left early, so I didn't see all that happened. Maybe I would have been better at dealing with some people's deaths in my teen years if I had. Sesame Street knows just the right way to explain these issues to kids and handle them sensitively. I still have trouble talking about death and tend to handle it the Claire Dunphy way (from Modern Family) sometimes.
As I became a teenager, one of my friends and I would have weird inside jokes about Sesame Street. Don't even ask. We'd access our memories to find all these things to laugh about. During creative writing class my senior year of high school, some other friends and I wrote a parody and called it "Sesame's Bad Seeds." It really only made sense to us and we were laughing so hard while writing it. Mad TV had some great parodies, as well (the one about the Internet is hilarious), but don't show them to your kids!
When I was in college, Tickle Me Elmo first became a huge fad. I remember seeing it at the toy store and joking about buying it. I probably should have and then sold it because it was in such high demand. I could have covered a year's tuition! (Well, I don't think it would have sold for that much, but people were so obsessed with getting it for their kids. I'm sure most are buried in the backs of closets now or were donated to thrift stores a long time ago.)
Watching Sesame Street as an adult gives a whole new perspective. I have seen it evolve from the 1970's style to have a more modern feel. The monsters have cell phones and use the Internet. The coolest celebrities hang out with them on the street. They do song parodies with some modern stuff. (I saw one with Elmo and Katy Perry singing about hot and cold in terms of weather, as a parody of her hit song.) There are new characters developed for a new audience of viewers.
A few years ago, I got an old school Sesame Street DVD at the library for my older son. (He was about two years old at the time.) It was weird to watch, as it was from even before my time. Big Bird didn't have feathers on the top of his head and looked freaky that way. Like his head had shrunk. Oscar was orange! It didn't really bring back memories for me anyway.
Aside from the sandbox joke, a long time ago, I heard a clever little Sesame Street joke. It goes:
"Want some ice cream, Ernie?"
"Sure, Bert!"
Think about it.... :)
I told the joke to some little girls who are family friends with "Will." This was back when they were about my kids' age in the late 90s. They loved it and kept saying it all night long. Nowadays, my boys love this joke and tell it all the time, adding Ernie's laugh at the end for a special effect.
Last summer, we went to Sesame Place for the first time. It was a lot of fun and the kids had a blast. I loved how the carousel horses looked like characters from the show instead of regular horses. They also had a studio where you could watch Elmo's World live. The kids have been asking to go back there, so hopefully we will at some point.
Last fall, we went to a special program at the Maryland Science Center that was all about Shalom Sesame, the Israeli version of Sesame Street. Even that show has evolved a lot, with new actors and characters. They have some classics, but compared to the Shalom Sesame from my youth, it's definitely way more modern! It's still cute and the kids get a kick out of it. I like their version of Abby Cadaby, appropriately named Avigayil. She's the cutest little monster ever! (Sorry, Elmo!)
I have a feeling that Sesame Street will continue to evolve with our ever-changing times. I just hope they continue to maintain their innocence and also keep up with relevant issues. I don't watch it enough to know what goes on now, but it would be a good place to start addressing issues such as bullying, discrimination, etc. I'd even love for there to be a muppet with cochlear implants. Even though my older son is outgrowing the show, I'm sure my daughter would appreciate it! I just hope it will be around for when I someday have grandchildren. Then I can tell them what it was like back in my day.
This week, I picked the topic: Share your favorite memories of Sesame Street or talk about the role it has played in your life.
Before reading ahead, first see what everyone else had to say on this topic:
Froggie
Mom of Many
Moma Rock
My kids don't believe me when I tell them there was life on Sesame Street before Elmo became the big star and Snuffleupagus used to be invisible to everyone except Big Bird. I remember bits and pieces of the show before I was old enough to outgrow it. After that, I would catch episodes when I babysat and then eventually when my kids were big enough to understand it (of course, it was all about Elmo by then, and they got caught up in the Elmo's World craze).
I remember coming home from preschool and hanging out with two friends at one of their houses to watch Sesame Street and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood after that. I can't really tell you much of what happened on the show back in the day, as a lot of it was a blur. I'll share what I do remember though:
*The Beetles singing "Letter B" as a parody of "Let it Be."
*The magician who said "A la peanut butter and jelly sandwich"
*Ernie playing this game with Burt where he'd start with "I ONE the sandbox" and they'd work their way up to EIGHT, which obviously sounds like ATE. Ernie would give Burt a hard time about it. I found it hilarious and have since taught it to my kids.
*The pinball machine that does a song about numbers.
*Always finding the Count to be scary because I had a fear of vampires as a kid. Sorry, Count!
*Not liking Maria much, as I thought she was condescending to Big Bird. I picked up on that as a kid, for some reason. I liked Susan and Gordon though.
*"Sing. Sing a song..."
*Learning that AGUA means water in Spanish, but I always thought they said AQUA.
*Super Grover!
*"C is for Cookie, that's good enough for me!"
*Kermit occasionally making an appearance.
*When the theme song/intro had kids playing in a park.
When I was in Sunday school, we did a unit on death and they let us watch the episode where Mr. Hooper dies. I had to go someplace with my family and thus left early, so I didn't see all that happened. Maybe I would have been better at dealing with some people's deaths in my teen years if I had. Sesame Street knows just the right way to explain these issues to kids and handle them sensitively. I still have trouble talking about death and tend to handle it the Claire Dunphy way (from Modern Family) sometimes.
As I became a teenager, one of my friends and I would have weird inside jokes about Sesame Street. Don't even ask. We'd access our memories to find all these things to laugh about. During creative writing class my senior year of high school, some other friends and I wrote a parody and called it "Sesame's Bad Seeds." It really only made sense to us and we were laughing so hard while writing it. Mad TV had some great parodies, as well (the one about the Internet is hilarious), but don't show them to your kids!
When I was in college, Tickle Me Elmo first became a huge fad. I remember seeing it at the toy store and joking about buying it. I probably should have and then sold it because it was in such high demand. I could have covered a year's tuition! (Well, I don't think it would have sold for that much, but people were so obsessed with getting it for their kids. I'm sure most are buried in the backs of closets now or were donated to thrift stores a long time ago.)
Watching Sesame Street as an adult gives a whole new perspective. I have seen it evolve from the 1970's style to have a more modern feel. The monsters have cell phones and use the Internet. The coolest celebrities hang out with them on the street. They do song parodies with some modern stuff. (I saw one with Elmo and Katy Perry singing about hot and cold in terms of weather, as a parody of her hit song.) There are new characters developed for a new audience of viewers.
A few years ago, I got an old school Sesame Street DVD at the library for my older son. (He was about two years old at the time.) It was weird to watch, as it was from even before my time. Big Bird didn't have feathers on the top of his head and looked freaky that way. Like his head had shrunk. Oscar was orange! It didn't really bring back memories for me anyway.
Aside from the sandbox joke, a long time ago, I heard a clever little Sesame Street joke. It goes:
"Want some ice cream, Ernie?"
"Sure, Bert!"
Think about it.... :)
I told the joke to some little girls who are family friends with "Will." This was back when they were about my kids' age in the late 90s. They loved it and kept saying it all night long. Nowadays, my boys love this joke and tell it all the time, adding Ernie's laugh at the end for a special effect.
Last fall, we went to a special program at the Maryland Science Center that was all about Shalom Sesame, the Israeli version of Sesame Street. Even that show has evolved a lot, with new actors and characters. They have some classics, but compared to the Shalom Sesame from my youth, it's definitely way more modern! It's still cute and the kids get a kick out of it. I like their version of Abby Cadaby, appropriately named Avigayil. She's the cutest little monster ever! (Sorry, Elmo!)
I have a feeling that Sesame Street will continue to evolve with our ever-changing times. I just hope they continue to maintain their innocence and also keep up with relevant issues. I don't watch it enough to know what goes on now, but it would be a good place to start addressing issues such as bullying, discrimination, etc. I'd even love for there to be a muppet with cochlear implants. Even though my older son is outgrowing the show, I'm sure my daughter would appreciate it! I just hope it will be around for when I someday have grandchildren. Then I can tell them what it was like back in my day.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Fluffy Camden
I've been blogging with three fabulous women for a year and a half now and have been enjoying all the fun topics we come up with week after week. If you want to see what we've discussed in the past, check out our posts here.
This week, Moma Rock picked the topic: We've all heard of creating your own "stripper name" based on this equation: Your first pet= first name. Street you grew up on= last name. What is your stripper name? And, tell us about that first pet and the street you grew up on that inspired your name.
Before reading ahead, first see what everyone else had to say on this topic:
Froggie
Mom of Many
Moma Rock
My stripper name is Fluffy Camden, as stated in my subject line.
Fluffy:
When my parents were in the early stages of their relationship (can’t remember if they had just gotten married or were newly engaged), my paternal grandfather, Papa Morrie, gave them a dog. He actually rescued the dog from being hit by a car. She looked like she was mistreated. Eventually, the dog’s owner came after him and they fought over the dog in court. I think the owner just gave up after a while, so my parents got to keep her. She was a West Highland Terrier and they named her Fluffy. I came along a couple of years later, after she was already established in the family. We bonded right away, as she was a sweet dog and not jealous at all. Really, she was always very easygoing, from what I remember.
When I was seven years old, Fluffy was already 13 and her age was showing. She was starting to deteriorate. As kids, we liked to celebrate Christmas because our non-Jewish cousins did. So our parents would leave us presents to find on Christmas morning. This particular Christmas morning, in 1983, I had come downstairs to find my gift and was all excited to show it to Fluffy. However, I found her laying very still on the carpet followed by a trail of excrement. I thought she was sleeping, so I screamed at her to wake up. My sister eventually joined me in the screaming ritual until our parents got up and figured out what had happened. I still didn’t really understand death at the time, even though my maternal grandfather had passed away that previous spring. To me, Fluffy was just sleeping and didn’t wake up. I’m sure my sister, at age four, was even more confused. Since Fluffy’s passing, we’ve had many other dogs, as well as some cats. However, she’s known for probably being the least insane of all the dogs (and some of the cats). Whenever I see a Westie, I always think of her.
Camden:
The first home I truly remember was at the corner of a cul-de-sac on Camden Court, in the subdivision of The Crossings, in Buffalo Grove, Illinois. We moved there when I was about two years old and had the home established by the time my sister arrived a year later.
What I remember most about living on Camden Court were the friends on my street. There was a group of us, at one point, that all hung out together. In the summer, we’d play on the swing set in my backyard or run around at night playing Ghosts in the Graveyard. On Halloween, we’d all go trick-or-treating together. We'd go to each other's birthday parties. Every summer, our street would have a block party, and when the kids got older, we’d put on talent shows.
On one side of our house, there were three girls, somewhat close in age to us, one in particular is S.G.. Two doors down on the other side was where one of my book blog partners, M.P. eventually lived for a while. Next to her house was another family with two girls around our age, B.A. and K.A. And next to them was a family with a girl a year younger than me, whom I was close with for a while, J.W. Two doors down from us in the other direction (next to S.G.'s house), there was a family with a guy around my age (J.S.) and his older sister, who dressed like Strawberry Shortcake for one of my birthday parties. After they moved, a family with kids my sisters' age and younger moved in. I would babysit the youngest of the three sometimes, after I was the right age for the job. There were a couple of other families with kids around our age, as well. Some eventually moved out of the neighborhood though.
J.W. and I used to hang out all the time and I always thought she was really nice. I think we even had the same middle name, which was just so cool to me at the time! Then she moved a couple of streets away. We didn't get to see each other as often after that. We’d eventually have classes together in high school and college and then run into each other at The Cubby Bear, finding out that we worked nearby each other. We reconnected on Facebook, as well. There was another family further down the street, whose house my sister and I would go to after school when we were still too young to be home alone. The mom was really nice and the daughter had the same first name as my sister (they were also close in age). We’d hang out in their family room watching Heathcliff cartoons and eating freshly baked cookies. I think they had step-brothers who would come to visit in the summer. They were both pretty cute and fun to hang out with, as well.
S.G.’s family, as well as B.A./K.A.’s family eventually moved out west. The year after they moved, M.P., her sister (A.S.) and I coordinated a block party talent show. We even made programs for it. It was a fun summer bonding with them over this endeavor. My sister even helped from time to time. The first half of the talent show involved cheerleading routines that A.S. taught us. Then we all did our talent acts. The finale was the lift from "Dirty Dancing" with A.S. playing "Johnny" and my sister playing "Baby."
The following year, a new family moved into B.A. and K.A.’s old house. They were considered “white trash” and some families wanted nothing to do with them. Then I went and befriended the girl who was closest to my age. She was nice though. Her brothers were nice too, when they weren’t getting into shouting matches that would send the police to their house. Still, our block wasn’t the same after that. We didn’t have block parties anymore and some of the younger kids put together this gossipy newsletter eventually.
Around the time I reconnected with M.P., I also found some other neighbors through her Facebook page. The first was S.G.. She was very friendly and remembered me right away. I asked her if she still was in touch with B.A. and K.A. and that’s when she delivered the blow….B.A. had been killed in a car accident a few years prior (as of now, it’s been 7 years). I hadn’t seen her since I was 12, so I had no frame of reference for her being an adult. To me, it was like losing a childhood friend all over again (the first time was when she moved and we didn’t stay in touch). I got insight to her life from M.P., but haven’t seen any pictures of her. She was 29 when she died; at the same time, I was still getting to know my newborn son. I still think of her a lot and wonder what she would be doing today, had she lived. Would we have reconnected and become friends again? I know her sister is on Facebook, but I haven’t tried to contact her. I don’t know what I’d even say to her. All I know from M.P. is that she named one of her kids after our street.
All in all, it was a cool street to live on. I spent my childhood, pre-teen and teen years there, before we moved out after I graduated from high school. (Some friends of ours live on a nearby street now, so it was strange to be back in the neighborhood, even just to visit them. At one point, we were a few feet away from my old house.) Since then, thanks to various moves, the street I live on here is the first street I truly feel at home on and it reminds me of my street growing up.
This week, Moma Rock picked the topic: We've all heard of creating your own "stripper name" based on this equation: Your first pet= first name. Street you grew up on= last name. What is your stripper name? And, tell us about that first pet and the street you grew up on that inspired your name.
Froggie
Mom of Many
Moma Rock
My stripper name is Fluffy Camden, as stated in my subject line.
Fluffy:
When my parents were in the early stages of their relationship (can’t remember if they had just gotten married or were newly engaged), my paternal grandfather, Papa Morrie, gave them a dog. He actually rescued the dog from being hit by a car. She looked like she was mistreated. Eventually, the dog’s owner came after him and they fought over the dog in court. I think the owner just gave up after a while, so my parents got to keep her. She was a West Highland Terrier and they named her Fluffy. I came along a couple of years later, after she was already established in the family. We bonded right away, as she was a sweet dog and not jealous at all. Really, she was always very easygoing, from what I remember.
When I was seven years old, Fluffy was already 13 and her age was showing. She was starting to deteriorate. As kids, we liked to celebrate Christmas because our non-Jewish cousins did. So our parents would leave us presents to find on Christmas morning. This particular Christmas morning, in 1983, I had come downstairs to find my gift and was all excited to show it to Fluffy. However, I found her laying very still on the carpet followed by a trail of excrement. I thought she was sleeping, so I screamed at her to wake up. My sister eventually joined me in the screaming ritual until our parents got up and figured out what had happened. I still didn’t really understand death at the time, even though my maternal grandfather had passed away that previous spring. To me, Fluffy was just sleeping and didn’t wake up. I’m sure my sister, at age four, was even more confused. Since Fluffy’s passing, we’ve had many other dogs, as well as some cats. However, she’s known for probably being the least insane of all the dogs (and some of the cats). Whenever I see a Westie, I always think of her.
 |
| With Fluffy when I was a baby |
Camden:
The first home I truly remember was at the corner of a cul-de-sac on Camden Court, in the subdivision of The Crossings, in Buffalo Grove, Illinois. We moved there when I was about two years old and had the home established by the time my sister arrived a year later.
What I remember most about living on Camden Court were the friends on my street. There was a group of us, at one point, that all hung out together. In the summer, we’d play on the swing set in my backyard or run around at night playing Ghosts in the Graveyard. On Halloween, we’d all go trick-or-treating together. We'd go to each other's birthday parties. Every summer, our street would have a block party, and when the kids got older, we’d put on talent shows.
On one side of our house, there were three girls, somewhat close in age to us, one in particular is S.G.. Two doors down on the other side was where one of my book blog partners, M.P. eventually lived for a while. Next to her house was another family with two girls around our age, B.A. and K.A. And next to them was a family with a girl a year younger than me, whom I was close with for a while, J.W. Two doors down from us in the other direction (next to S.G.'s house), there was a family with a guy around my age (J.S.) and his older sister, who dressed like Strawberry Shortcake for one of my birthday parties. After they moved, a family with kids my sisters' age and younger moved in. I would babysit the youngest of the three sometimes, after I was the right age for the job. There were a couple of other families with kids around our age, as well. Some eventually moved out of the neighborhood though.
J.W. and I used to hang out all the time and I always thought she was really nice. I think we even had the same middle name, which was just so cool to me at the time! Then she moved a couple of streets away. We didn't get to see each other as often after that. We’d eventually have classes together in high school and college and then run into each other at The Cubby Bear, finding out that we worked nearby each other. We reconnected on Facebook, as well. There was another family further down the street, whose house my sister and I would go to after school when we were still too young to be home alone. The mom was really nice and the daughter had the same first name as my sister (they were also close in age). We’d hang out in their family room watching Heathcliff cartoons and eating freshly baked cookies. I think they had step-brothers who would come to visit in the summer. They were both pretty cute and fun to hang out with, as well.
S.G.’s family, as well as B.A./K.A.’s family eventually moved out west. The year after they moved, M.P., her sister (A.S.) and I coordinated a block party talent show. We even made programs for it. It was a fun summer bonding with them over this endeavor. My sister even helped from time to time. The first half of the talent show involved cheerleading routines that A.S. taught us. Then we all did our talent acts. The finale was the lift from "Dirty Dancing" with A.S. playing "Johnny" and my sister playing "Baby."
The following year, a new family moved into B.A. and K.A.’s old house. They were considered “white trash” and some families wanted nothing to do with them. Then I went and befriended the girl who was closest to my age. She was nice though. Her brothers were nice too, when they weren’t getting into shouting matches that would send the police to their house. Still, our block wasn’t the same after that. We didn’t have block parties anymore and some of the younger kids put together this gossipy newsletter eventually.
Around the time I reconnected with M.P., I also found some other neighbors through her Facebook page. The first was S.G.. She was very friendly and remembered me right away. I asked her if she still was in touch with B.A. and K.A. and that’s when she delivered the blow….B.A. had been killed in a car accident a few years prior (as of now, it’s been 7 years). I hadn’t seen her since I was 12, so I had no frame of reference for her being an adult. To me, it was like losing a childhood friend all over again (the first time was when she moved and we didn’t stay in touch). I got insight to her life from M.P., but haven’t seen any pictures of her. She was 29 when she died; at the same time, I was still getting to know my newborn son. I still think of her a lot and wonder what she would be doing today, had she lived. Would we have reconnected and become friends again? I know her sister is on Facebook, but I haven’t tried to contact her. I don’t know what I’d even say to her. All I know from M.P. is that she named one of her kids after our street.
All in all, it was a cool street to live on. I spent my childhood, pre-teen and teen years there, before we moved out after I graduated from high school. (Some friends of ours live on a nearby street now, so it was strange to be back in the neighborhood, even just to visit them. At one point, we were a few feet away from my old house.) Since then, thanks to various moves, the street I live on here is the first street I truly feel at home on and it reminds me of my street growing up.
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| Courtesy of Google Maps ("A" is my old house) |
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Hail to the chief!
Remember the blog project I did in 2010 with three other women? Well, Froggie decided to resurrect it with me and we each got to invite another friend to join us. She invited a mutual friend (someone I met through her) and I invited a friend whose blog I really enjoy reading. So now it's Froggie, Mom of Many, Moma Rock and Merrylandgirl. Hope you enjoy the topics that we'll be exploring!
This week, Froggie picked the topic: If you could have a conversation with any President of the United States, who would you want to talk to and what would you talk to them about?
Before reading ahead, first see what everyone else had to say on this topic:
Froggie
Mom of Many
Moma Rock
I will admit this topic is my fault. I invited Froggie to visit me and she got to tour DC while she was here. I'm glad she had fun and was inspired!
I know this is a no-brainer, but I would totally have a chat with our current President, Barack Obama. I am not a political person in the slightest. (Surprising that I live by the Capitol, right?) However, I just like what he stands for. After a trend of all caucasian Presidents, he is the first African American president. That's huge! It shows that our country is starting to embrace diversity. Given that he was born in an era of racism and segregation, it shows that our country has come a far way. It gives me hope that voters will continue to embrace diversity in the coming years and that maybe there will be a female president.
I've enjoyed his presidency. It has been a breath of fresh air. Maybe moving to the DC area shortly after his inauguration contributed to this, but it's not like I got to meet him or anything. I have been inside the White House (GREAT way to start off in my new job), but not in his living area. Anyway, he never pushed a religious agenda onto his platform. I still think church and state should be separate and I have never once heard of him using his religious beliefs as fodder for a new law. I also like watching him interact with Michelle and his kids. I can tell they have a strong and loving family and that he wouldn't have an extramarital affair on America's clock.
If we ever did get to chat, I think I'd start off by talking about living in the Chicago area. Definitely common grounds. It's funny how we both lived there and now live in DC (or the surrounding area). I would ask him some questions about his kids and dog or just about life in general. When you have to talk about politics and do debates and State of the Union speeches all the time, I'm sure a bit of normalcy is a nice treat! I'd tell him how I was still planning to vote for him, regardless of who he was up against. I think he's had a major mess to clean up and, while I'm sure there are right wing political folk who would disagree with me, I think he's doing a nice job. Before he took office, the economy was losing 800,000 jobs a MONTH. Now, there has been 30 consecutive months of job growth and 5.1 million new private sector jobs. He also supports equal pay and health care rights of women. And he responsibly ended the war that his predecessor got us into.
Could the country use more work? Yes. But four more years in office could potentially do the trick, as I think he's on the right path. I will be extremely disappointed if he does not get re-elected.
(Side note, if anyone connected with Obama reads this post and wants to set up a lunch meeting, I'm all for it!)
This week, Froggie picked the topic: If you could have a conversation with any President of the United States, who would you want to talk to and what would you talk to them about?
Before reading ahead, first see what everyone else had to say on this topic:
Froggie
Mom of Many
Moma Rock
I will admit this topic is my fault. I invited Froggie to visit me and she got to tour DC while she was here. I'm glad she had fun and was inspired!
I know this is a no-brainer, but I would totally have a chat with our current President, Barack Obama. I am not a political person in the slightest. (Surprising that I live by the Capitol, right?) However, I just like what he stands for. After a trend of all caucasian Presidents, he is the first African American president. That's huge! It shows that our country is starting to embrace diversity. Given that he was born in an era of racism and segregation, it shows that our country has come a far way. It gives me hope that voters will continue to embrace diversity in the coming years and that maybe there will be a female president.
I've enjoyed his presidency. It has been a breath of fresh air. Maybe moving to the DC area shortly after his inauguration contributed to this, but it's not like I got to meet him or anything. I have been inside the White House (GREAT way to start off in my new job), but not in his living area. Anyway, he never pushed a religious agenda onto his platform. I still think church and state should be separate and I have never once heard of him using his religious beliefs as fodder for a new law. I also like watching him interact with Michelle and his kids. I can tell they have a strong and loving family and that he wouldn't have an extramarital affair on America's clock.
If we ever did get to chat, I think I'd start off by talking about living in the Chicago area. Definitely common grounds. It's funny how we both lived there and now live in DC (or the surrounding area). I would ask him some questions about his kids and dog or just about life in general. When you have to talk about politics and do debates and State of the Union speeches all the time, I'm sure a bit of normalcy is a nice treat! I'd tell him how I was still planning to vote for him, regardless of who he was up against. I think he's had a major mess to clean up and, while I'm sure there are right wing political folk who would disagree with me, I think he's doing a nice job. Before he took office, the economy was losing 800,000 jobs a MONTH. Now, there has been 30 consecutive months of job growth and 5.1 million new private sector jobs. He also supports equal pay and health care rights of women. And he responsibly ended the war that his predecessor got us into.
Could the country use more work? Yes. But four more years in office could potentially do the trick, as I think he's on the right path. I will be extremely disappointed if he does not get re-elected.
(Side note, if anyone connected with Obama reads this post and wants to set up a lunch meeting, I'm all for it!)
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