I really like Thursdays. Almost more than Fridays. It’s just an enjoyable day of the week. It’s that time of the week where I plant myself in the CCM Starbucks with my computer, a good book, and an iced chai and just veg, listing to chill coffee shop music, until Ted is done with work. Tonight we’ll catch dinner somewhere yummy near campus and head to the museum center to walk through the Cleopatra exhibit for an hour or so. Last night I tagged along to invited dress for Rent, which officially opens tonight and, unlike Evita, actually runs for more than one weekend – which is a very good thing. The show was awesome! Truly an excellent, fun, touching performance. They opted for a cast of 24 extremely talented performers and they did such justice to a show that, up until a year and a half ago when the rights were finally released, was only performed on Broadway and professional national tour. Last year MSU (where Ted was in grad school) made sure they were one of the first Universities in the country to secure the newly-available rights and do the show. CCM jumped on board this year. They designed this great minimalist versatile set with moving, spinning, multi-level fire escape-esque platforms and a graffiti apartment exterior backdrop that was painted in perspective to be wider at top and narrower at the bottom. The show was really well cast and the singing was fantastic – right on par with the vocals of the Broadway and movie casts. I’m very familiar with the show’s plot and music, but it was great to finally see it live. I liked the lighting a lot as well because they used a lot of moving lights, colors, patterns, movement effects, and practicals (in this case florescent looking tube lights secured to the beams of the fire escape platforms that changed colors). The lighting was fun and really added something exciting to the show technically. CCM also rented a 12’x12′ square of the Aids Quilt to hang in the theatre, which was a nice touch.
- CCM’s promo photo for “Rent”
You know what else I love about my afternoons at the coffee shop? People watching and unintentional eavesdropping. There’s a guy and his female friend sitting next to me who are discussing their thoughts on marriage. They are hitting that point in their lives where all their young friends are moving in with their significant others, getting engaged, and getting married and, to them, it’s just weird. They both respect the institution of marriage, happily celebrate and support their friends’ decisions, and want it for themselves too – one day. But not soon. They’re grasping in the dark to understand what everyone’s big rush is to tie the knot and settle down at age 23. They’re in their early 20s and feel like the odd men out because they aren’t ready to take this step with their respective boyfriend and girlfriend of 4+ years, when everyone else around them, apparently, is. I’m sitting here thinking, “I totally get where you’re coming from!”
I didn’t plan to get married young. I didn’t intend to seek someone out during my internship in Michigan, date for only 1 year and 2 months before getting engaged at the age of 23 and then get married at 24. Three or four years ago, that easily could have been me sitting at that table in Starbucks with my friends having that exact conversation and questioning what the big rush is all about. But these things aren’t mapped out or planned. They happen when they happen. And when the right person comes along, no matter how young or old you are, something changes and commitment and marriage doesn’t seem that scary or daunting anymore. You just feel ready, and when that happens, what’s the point in waiting? Right now I feel about babies the way they seem to feel about marriage. Everyone around me is popping out the kids like reproducing is going out of style or something, and I don’t understand it. “What’s the rush?,” I think. You’re 25 – you have plenty of time to have kids….later. Enjoy life without kids now, while you still can. But I’m not these people and I’m not in their shoes. I’m completely freaked out by the idea of bearing and parenting a human being, but to all of my friends, who have apparently reached that point in their lives where they just know they’re ready for this next step, it’s an exciting, not horrifying, thing. I just think it’s interesting to think about the big life milestones and hear other people’s thoughts on them. Sometimes coffee shops can be enlightening in ways you never expected.
Have a happy Thursday!
