Sunday, March 02, 2008

That's Why I'm Here

The title of a beloved James Taylor song occurred to me this afternoon as I sat in the Ford Family Recital Center at the DeYor Performing Arts Center with Boston, Ridley and Jaci. We were watching Tyler perform in "Forever Plaid."

My history of watching Tyler perform goes back to Georgetown Day High School when he was the dentist in "Little Shop of Horrors." I attended many performances at Interlochen Arts Camp and Interlochen Arts Academy. Then came Youngstown State University and performances at St. John's Episcopal and the Youngstown Playhouse and Dana School of Music.

Now everything has come full circle. Tyler is back on stage and I'm back in the audience—smiling, laughing, clapping, singing along under my breath.

If you're not familiar with the title song of today's post, here are the opening lyrics:
Person to person and man to man
I'm back in touch with my long lost friend
Listen to reason and understand
Think of me from way back when


I'm back in touch with my long lost grandbabies and we are enjoying every minute of our time.

- - -
Edited several hours later:
After the show, we all went to Maureen and Todd's (the founders of Easy Street Productions) for a cast and crew party, including pizza, sandwiches, beverages, and a replay of the show tape recorded during this afternoon's performance.

At one point I called Boston over to remind him of an incident from this afternoon that he had missed. He climbed up in my lap to sit and watch with me. After a while he ran off to tell his sister something, then came back to me and sat on my lap again for another ten minutes.

There were thirty chairs in the room, including those occupied my his mother and father. But he chose to come sit on my lap and lean up against me.

I am blessed.

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