#226: Keeping in Touch

Larry Neuzel is a legend in Lexington
theatre. His faithful lens has documented
nearly every performance in town for
decades and he captured this shot of
Ave and me before Merchant of Venice
rehearsal began.

The most wonderful thing has started happening. People are calling me with their good news. I took my usual after radiation nap this morning, and awoke to Jake breathing softly in my ear. Soon after, the phone rang. It was a dear friend calling to catch up and share some great news about a project she's working on. Not long after, another friend called to tell me about a job interview. Then I got an email from someone who got a job she's been looking for. Yet another call came in about some money that showed up so a pal could get the car fixed. Finally and old buddy called to update me on a high school theatre reunion that had lifted his spirits and helped to heal his soul.

It's great to get calls like these! I've always wanted to be the kind of person friends want to share good news with. Now people call me with good stories to help lift my spirits. What I'm realizing is that hearing good news is healing because of the joy I feel for my friends. They may think they're lifting my spirits, and they're right, but it is their joy that heals me.

I have always thought of myself as aloof, a strange man with a few close friends. Turns out I'm actually a strange man with a lot of friends. Some have taken my by surprise - people I would have never expected have become faithful in their contact and prayers for me. So grateful.

For other friends, it is harder. There are a lot of reasons why someone might have a hard time calling a friend with cancer. The disease has touched so many of our lives in so many ways. Parents lost. Lovers lost. Children. There are people who don't call whom I know love me, and it's OK. I understand. I wish I could call and say, "I know you're thinking of me and I remember when you lost your wife or your mom. I love you too. Just knowing how we feel is enough." I want to tell them that. But it's a little weird. Just want to let them know that we're OK and I want to get back in touch when all this is over. Maybe doing that will be the best way to say it.

Pride and Prejudice opens tonight in the park. I'm sorry that I won't get to see the second act, but I don't feel up to another late night just yet and my toothless cackling and hacking are not really crowd friendly. The show is going to be wonderful. Charming and graceful with magnificent costumes and career best performances from some actors I've known for a long time. I loved watching them work, so light and easy. It is a tribute to their director that even amid the discomfort of a rain delayed tech rehearsal, they were able to play with such joy. It was like watching a dance. If you are in Lexington this week, see it.

Peace,
pennsy