"WHAT A VALENTINES!" for (me!) sandra, tvgp
well,
how was your valentines?
let me do a quick a mental inventory so i can make sure..
YEP!
this was the best valentines of my life so far.
and isn't that ironic.. that i have no romantic love. i didn't go out on a date; didn't have flowers or candy arrive at my doorstep; didn't fall in love.
no be mine secret admirers, nothing of that sort.
rather it was the greatest valentines of my life because i spent it with emily dickinson at old st. raymond's church in dublin.
my first time there.. but immediately, like my courage tattoo -it felt familiar. familiar and beautiful. ( you must see it! by clicking on the link above )
-and emily
i don't know her nearly as well as i'd like, and yet
i do. intimately and completely.
i know her, love her and feel so compelled to congratulate and liberate her
"emily! emily!" i mentally shouted during certain scenes
"F. the publishers, my poet friend.. we have blogs now!"
and i know this is the greatest way to introduce the poets of the past to the children of the 21st century
to answer the question: what if [emily dickinson] were alive today?
and the entire time i watched emily on stage i pictured myself on stage with her.. her writing in the then.. me writing in the now
hollering out to her as if she were alive write now, very alive, only, instead of a few blocks away, or miles down the road -she's a few centuries over
"you won't believe it emily!" i kept telling her, "you won't believe this!" -and i went on to describe computers, the internet,
blogs.
and she was outside of her mind excited. and we were best, best, friends.
so, a great night. a great valentines; to get to hang out in a beautiful, historical, wooden church; to share secrets, poetry and advances in technology with emily.
"how was the turn out?" -my sister and real life best friend asks me
and here's the thing. there were not a lot of people. "but," i told my sister,
"you know how sometimes the size of the crowd speaks to the quality of the performance.. and low numbers mean poor performance
this was not the case. -sometimes the size of the crowd speaks more to the quality of the audience
i felt like part of a select, elite, special, vip, get's~ it, crowd; very lucky."
and i went on to tell her about how not only did gwyneth richards get a standing ovation.. "but none of us could stop clapping
even when she politely gestured, thank you/that's enough
no one stopped clapping. we went on and on and on standing and applauding her.
she was amazing! just amazing!"
THANK YOU GWYNETH RICHARDS for an extraordinary evening with emily dickinson; for bringing her to life the way you did. -love and continued success to you in all you do.
- and then -
another one of those rare saturday nights... although i'm smiling write now, because i write about them so often, how rare are they really?
but they always feel rare.. the night's my sister and i can go out together for drinks and dancing
and last night was another one of those feels rare nights. -and having just read scott adam's blog and learned there is music and dancing now at stacey's at waterford in dublin on the weekends
we were inspired to check it out.
felt like we were really branching out; breaking out of our close and comfort zone by leaving main street in pleasanton and going ALL THE WAY (3 miles) to dublin for dancing.
and hard to use valentines night as an example of what it's like on typical weekends.. but, still..
the harrison sister's give it a "we'll be back for more!" -the restaurant itself is gorgeous, the drinks delicious, the music dance~able.. some of it, anyway
the dj mixed it up quite a bit, trying to read the crowd.. answer the calls of a mixed group, from long-time married couples, to the newly dating.. to the young and obviously singles
my request for mjb went unanswered
"i'm gonna make a harrison sister's cd," i told my sister, "we'll come back and have everyone dancing all night long"
but i think that's stepping on the dj's toes.
it's just so frustrating though.. when you want to dance.. you're aching to dance.. but can't quite find your song; your music
i had a vivid image recently that made me laugh out loud.
what i pictured was a dance floor.. much like the one we were on last night. -and it was PACKED with people. only, instead of a dj, or a live band
everyone on the dance floor had their own ipod with their very own favorite dance music pumping in their ears.
so everyone was dancing to a different rhythm, different beat, different song
but everyone was dancing together. -this makes for a great visual if you can picture it like i do.
add on couples, slow dancing together, each with their own ipod, but the same song, and pushing play at the same time
"i think that might be the future!" my sister said.
so there you have it. -read it here first.
and i have the first 3 or 4 songs for my ipod: -the can't not dance list:
mary j blige -family affair- AKA: the percolator song.
ryan shaw -nobody-
prince -dog catcher
and once i have an hour worth or so loaded and ready
and my sister does too
you know where to find us. soaking up another rare night somewhere in the tri valley.
dancin' to the beat of our very own, personalized, ipod drummers.
happy valentines!
posted by SHE @ 5:22 PM
5 Comments:
This sounds awesome. :) Have you seen "The Belle of Amherst"? You would very much enjoy it-a one woman play about Emily's life.
*giggles* My word verification is "shejump".
hahaha that's really cute, Sandra. I'm elated to hear that you had such a phenomenal valentine's day. Well, our 2nd valentines day as a married couple is sure to be a step up, as we set the bar low this year. Matt's been quite sick (in fact, we went to the hospital today and he's still miserable) and yet we sucked it up - okay, he sucked up the cold as in HEALTH and I the cold as in WEATHER - and went for a day visiting Virginia Theological Seminary. Our second choice. It was a pretty nice day in the end, despite a pitifully early start and bitter winds...
Afterwards, Matt asked me "So, what'd you think?" and I said "I think it's a GREAT second choice." He cracked up and loved it. So, we're praying to get into our numero uno but wouldn't be upset with the numero due.
Anywho, sounds like your day was much cooler! I'm so glad. What a wonderful event it must have been - and what a beautiful church.
I loved the image of you and your sister just itching to dance but (in my mind anyway) pausing right before the next song comes on, halfway out of your seat, only to roll your eyes at each other and sit back down when a non-dancy song comes up.
Also, the image of people dancing to their own music. That could be really fun and neat :) But I think I don't have that problem. I could dance to anything - mostly because I don't give a damn. hahaha.. I'll just dance like a fool and have the time of my life. Whether it's a wretched "elevator music" song, cheesy love song (aka involuntary mock-karaoke), ghetto rap or frank sinatra! I just LOVE to dance.
And to dance goofily. Not beautifully, gracefully, per se... Just for fun.
We should dance together someday :)
I also like that "Karma Lennon" commented on her word verification. Cracks me up. I love taking note of the "Word" they have you spell.
Anywho, HAPPY BELATED VALENTINE'S DAY! With love and affection,
Hawley
ps- JUST finished the book "Blue Shoe" by Anne Lamott. You. would. love. it. PLEASE put it on your to-read list!!!
karma: great to hear from you!
-and, i didn't mention it did i,
but that's what this was: based on the belle of amherst by william luce
this a calling for you? -one woman play. -save me a seat and a ticket
love, ~s.
mbh: thank you! -and sorry to hear matt wasn't feeling so well, but you sure handled it with love and humor
good sign.
and LOVE your spirit when it comes to dancing.. i can't move unless the music moves me
so picky
but, somethin' tells me we will share the dance floor in the future and have a great time
you sound like a ton of fun to hang out with
God shine!
love, ~s.
p.s.
got a couple barnes & noble gift cards for my birthday, so blue shoe will be in my hands very soon
enjoyed your good reads testimony
Original post 02/15/2009. - reposted, as I just met carol Dickinson from creative works, who mentioned in conversation that she is a distant relative of Emily dickinson. What a fun to thing to learn!! I still enjoy thinking about how she would have loved blogs!
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