Shrinky Dinks and Jesus

Today was filled with all kinds of goodness. We took a walk, leaves beneath our feet, swish, crinkle, swish…the sound of Fall. Started off wearing a sweater knowing after a mile or so it would be wrapped around my waist. I love this season. Cutting root vegetables from the farmers market, purple, yellow, and orange carrots for a curried stew. The smells from the slow cook in grandma’s cast iron pot on the stove bring joy all day. Knowing I can chill until dinner when all I will need to do is make some ginger rice and set the table. Fall. Family, cozy and quiet, a reset from the go go go of summer. Well…usually…not this summer, but I am not looking back to the summer lost, I am embracing the Fall ahead.

The stew was stewing, fire glowing, and The Brady Bunch on as background nostalgic yet cringe-worthy goodness, I scrolled and participated in one of those “let’s all remember the past and bond over our similarities” posts. Not about music, or movies, or what naughty things we did as teens…about crafts and games. My kind of questionnaire.

What crafts did I do? What games did I play… my head exploded. Fall days growing up were all about crafts and games, non stop! My answers…papier-mâché, homemade Play-doh, batiking, beeswax candle making, baking, painting shells, Shrinky Dinks, decoupage with wrapping paper and comics, coil pots, loom kits, newspaper weaving, cootie catchers, Barbie clothes making, fairy houses, water painting, broken pottery mosaics, creating our own newspapers and comics, hand-coloring bw photos. What joy…sitting at the kitchen table or on the living room floor, mom in the kitchen cooking, dad in the living room cursing at or quietly enjoying the Giants game…swoon. Other people’s answers reminded me of things I have not thought of in ages, literally ages…chewing gum wrapper and daisy chains, transferring the Sunday comics onto Silly Putty, the Creepy Crawler Bug Maker set. Oh my gosh, the burns we used to get from that bug maker. Spectacular. Life, Monopoly, Spit, Payday, Clue, Careers, The Guinness Book of World Records game… so much fun, so great to reminisce. What a gift.

After a day of swoon worthy memories I went to my studio to work a bit. Working on Sundays almost always assures a pleasant Monday. I walked in to find some CDs that Greg found in the basement…the basement from hell, an episode of hoarders…the basement of anything you might need, if you can find it. The basement that had my original Broadway cast recording of Godspell… the scream that opens the show, the centerfold with Jesus…Jesus who used to buy lunch at my parents’ health food restaurant on 42nd and 6th Avenue (a delightful and juicy story that must wait), my Godspell, my childhood.

Poor Greg just made the mistake of saying “Oh, I didn’t know you had this soundtrack”. Um…seriously. That comment lead to me performing my 45 year-old choreography for the opening number…I am a bit rusty to say the least. He was a gentleman and just smiled while secretly hoping I would not end up in the hospital from my twists and turns. He really is a good man.

When I was nine I danced. I danced every day after school, tap, jazz, ballet, acrobatics… my parents were very generous. I would do homework, eat dinner, then dance some more. Our living room had floor to ceiling paned windows and once it became dark, those windows magically became mirrors…I die just thinking about this. Not registering that they were not actually mirrors I danced for the neighborhood nightly. Routines to HAIR, Godspell, Jesus Christ Superstar, Pippin…in my black baggy leotard with my white panties sticking out the sides. I thought I was amazing…looking exactly like one of Jerome Robbins’ ladies. Confidence is wasted on the young.

After such a pleasant day of reminiscing, I write to wish you all peeks into your past, the joy of innocent hobbies, back to the days when we could dance for hours pain free…speaking of which…my hip currently is out of wack from my performance 10 minutes ago. It was worth it… swoon.