What do you do?

    Last night backstage I had a very interesting conversation about the uniting of the two acting unions, SAG and AFTRA. (I think it is AFTRA? Something like that.) It was not a conversation so much as a fascinating and impassioned soliliquy.
    One of the things I love most in the world is when people describe their job to me or something that they are very  passionate about. It is amazing how interesting other peoples' work or hobbies are and how alike or disimilar they are from other things.
    For instance you may know nothing about rabbit shows or how they are judged. But if you ever watched the Westminister dog show, observing a rabbit show would look familiar to you. It may seem funny that there is a 6 issue a year magazine devoted to Domestic Rabbits, that all American Rabbit Breeders Association members get. Plus, I bet you would really be surprised to learn that each breed also has its own periodical devoted to itself.
    But if you are engaged in any hobby, be it tropical fish raising, or hockey coaching, or gardening, there is always a major organizaiton and a magazine and opportunities for like minded people to gather. So too in the job world. Plumbers have their own magazine and conventions, as do Catholic priests, and garbage men, and ER nurses.
    Everywhere I go I ask people what do they do in their real life. They always laugh of course and then say the short answer.....I am a teacher, or I work at a bank. But it is only when I begin to ask questions about what their daily work life is like, that they become very animated.
    Last night one of my theater friends spoke of her job working at an Immigration Law firm. Apparently this is their crunch time of year with key documents that were all due by 5. She was grouchy and exhausted and totally done after putting in so many late hours this week. But I was just rivited.
   As to the covnersation about the actors unions united, apparently this helps all the actors, allowing them more job opportunities. Something about production companies no longer signing up with one union or the other, thus restricting who gets hired for what job...
    I did not understand it all of course. But his excitement as he explained the new opportunities opening up for his young daughter, who is now a member of both unions, was contagious. I could have asked a million more questions but of course there was a play to do and I needed to get ready for my next entrance.
    But I have been thinking about the law firm and the actor unions off and on all day. People are just so very intersting and I am, as always, curious to learn.

Odds and Ends

Round here, we always stand up straight
Round here, something radiates...

And she walks along the edge of where the ocean meets the land
Just like she's walking on a wire in the circus...

Round here we're carving out our names
Round here we all look the same
Round here we talk just like lions
But we sacrifice like lambs
Round here she's slipping through my hands
Run home, sleeping children better run like the wind
out of the lightning dream
Mama's little baby better get herself in
out of the lightning
She says "it's only in my head"
She says "Shhhhh I know it's only in my head"
But the girl in the car in the parking lot
Says "Man you should try to take a shot
Can't you see my walls are crumbling?"
Then she looks up at the building
Says she's thinking of jumping
She says she's tired of life
She must be tired of something
Round here she's always on my mind
Round here hey man got lots of time
Round here we're never sent to bed early
and nobody makes us wait
Round here we stay up very, very, very, very late....
   Last night my Corey drove Joe and I to the play early so we could get hair and make up done. The Counting Crows 'song came on and as the three of us cheerfully sang I could not help but think of two other Carver families who are without their boys tonight. One young man died in a car accident on his way home from work. The other young man chose to end his own life.
   As we got to the point in the song about the young woman thinking of 'jumping' I could not help buy be angry at the young man who thought the solution to his temporary problem should be so permanent and so heartbreaking for his family. I thought of his family and friends and how they will never be able to truly get over the 'what ifs'.
    But also this week, as our small town has sought ways to process the news of the deaths of two 20 year olds, I have watched friends and collegeagues and my own children seek ways to grieve and understand..
    I think everyone has hugged their children a little closer, and scolded them a little more sternly too. I am not the only parent who reminded their child of the importance of staying in touch when running late, or speaking out when things are tough.
    Ah, the contrast between my weekend of play production with family and friends, of applause and costumes, and silliness...the contrast of that with the mourning and funeral preparations of the other families, is difficult to  settle in my mind.
    Most of all I have felt the fragilness of life and the gratefulness for my husband and kids. Cancer, divorce, car accidents, suicide....the messy part of of being human.
     But today, on this day of rest I sit in the garden near Yon's new pond. He and my mother were planning a pond when her heart ache over my Dad's death proved too much for her and she died of a broken heart. She and Yon however had been making very specific plans and they included fancy fish, plants, and even a bridge going over the pond.
    Yon has wanted a pond for years, and apparently realised after his successful mission of getting his own swimming pool last year, that he could talk Donnie into this. He also wants central air and a jacuzzi by the way, he is nothing if not a Big Dream kind of guy!
    He and Donnie have been planning the creation although when the actual manual labor commenced Yon was usually no where to be found. But now he pours over fish tank books trying to decide what to put in his pond. He is still pressuring Don to build a bridge because Yon can be very particular (a less loving sister would say stubborn!)and he likes to have things done the way they were when he lived in Hanson or the way he and mom talked about.
    That is ok though this is his home and life, and there is plenty of room here for someone's dreams. Meawnhile I run through  my lines and work out in the garden and with the bunnies. The rabbits are due on Easter Sunday (very aprapos I am aware) so today everyone gets a top to bottom health check and all their nails trimmed.
    By the time I finished the last nail trim I looked like some crazed killer with blood dripping from my hands. I am not a patient nail trimmer and those pesky bunnies insist on wriggling. Perhaps the smell of blood makes them nervous? They are comical as a number of them recognize the nail clipper and although they will happily allow me to pick them up if no nail clipper is insight, it becomes a whole other story if they spot the dreaded trimmer.
    Ah well, it is all done until May rolls around. But next time I will be sure to hide the clippers until I have the buns firmly in hand.
   I have school work to attend to and I need to go wake Don up. He is fighting what is hopefully only a cold and needs to get ready to direct the music for the Youth Group. (Also he was up at the crack of dawn reffing hockey games poor guy). Sunday night Mass is a nice way to end the weekend.
   Next week is my last week with te 7trh graders before starting out with the preschoolers. It is amazing how quickly time passes.
   

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Zoos and St Paddy

     Such a blessed and beautiful St Patrick's Day. The kind of day that calls up my deepest Irish genes. I spent the day first with a private tour of the Buttonwood Zoo, then out in the garden with my own animals and plants, and soon to  meet up with Donnie at a pub.
    Yesterday I had been feeling quite fragile. For the first time in weeks I was working without pain. My foot had responded well to the second steroid shot and the new orthotics, my back finally settled down, and whatever stomach bug had laid me low earlier in the week was finally kaput. I had been feeling a touch sorry for myself about these nagging and ongoing health things. Daily pain is an insidious thing, and it is easy to feel sorry for yourself.
    But then I received news that an dear friend's husband was newly diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and a longtime neighbor is divorcing. All around us it seems pain and suffering is the order of the day. Last night as Don and I lay in bed holding hands and quietly chatting I marveled how truly lucky we are. Daily pain is a small thing in comparison to cancer and the raw ache of a longtime marriage disintegrating.
    Today with the 4H I again marveled at this blessed life. 4H has offered our family so many amazing opportunities and today was no exception. The head zoo keeper brought us behind locked gates and closed doors to explore the zoo from the inside out. We got to climb into the original bear den, built in 1936. We were able to be up close and personal with a lady bear and a very annoyed cougar. Joe patted a white tailed buck who terrorizes the zoo keepers but seemed charmed by him.
    The triumphant end found us with a meet and greet of Riley and Emily the zoo's beloved elephants. It turns out they have a sweet tooth and joyfully sucked up jelly beans that we had fed them!  There is a photo snapped of Emily and I, and we are both laughing open mouthed in delight. She because I gave her jelly beans and me because...well because I was communing with an ELEPHANT!
    At one point she and I both shared a moment of eye to eye communication. She looked intelligently at me and as we stared I said a quiet and fervent thank you to her. Perhaps you will not believe me, but that elephant not only understood my words but she acknowledged them.
   Later, back home with my goaties and gardens I plotted new plans and new babies and new ideas of other animals and plants. My hopes of baby sheep and baby goats have to be put on hold until after my Master's is finished since I am running on empty as it is. But oh what a glorious day to spend it at the zoo and speak with an expert.
    To then be able to come home to my own creatures and creations, to feed the bunnies, and be teased by Galaxy, and to snuggle the kittens was a joy. Off in the distance some neighbor has a crowing rooster and his calls are like music on the spring breeze.
   Clearly my all Irish roots come from farm stock and this earth, the plants, and the creatures who share our little farm fill such a place in my spirit. I am one lucky girl.