a date in another state

Yes, we did it again. Managed a full 24-plus hours alone together, by traveling four hours to Louisville, KY to see a play during the Actor's Theater's annual Humana Festival. Thanks to generous friends who took in Ani, and an incredible amount of independence and adventurous spirit from Eliza (who navigated her time between friends, with stretches happily on her own). What is the addage about "it takes a village to make a marriage", or something like that? Well, it kind of does.

March is insanely busy and diffuse for us, with an increased workload for Dan, who taught a weeklong workshop in Colorado during his spring break, wrote and presented two papers for a theater conference the following weekend and was dialect coach for a show that opened last week. On my side it means more single parenting and all of it means little quality time together, so we were ready for some time together.  

We dream of going to Louisville for a full weekend of the festival, which features new American works and incredible artistry. We saw the world premier of Charles Mee's Glory of the World, about local Kentuckian Thomas Merton. It began and ended in prolonged silence, but it was anything but silent in between, alternating between philosophical references to Merton and his life and something like scenes from a frat house. Dan summed the energy up by speculating that the playwrite was going for excess, in all things. It was a lot of fun to watch!

before the play began...

...and after it ended.

The other part of this adventure was staying in an Airbnb.  It was only my second, and Dan's first, and it was interesting, to say the least.  The host was away for an art show in New Orleans, so we let ourselves into her apartment and were greeted by four huge and endearing cats. The decor was morbid chic...is that a thing? I think I made it up, but in any case, parts of it were right up my alley - bones and stones covering most surfaces, and books, tapes, and video cassettes lining the walls.  The big-eye paintings I could have done without. 

the biggest sweetie, the pirate cat

The neighborhood was great, just blocks from Bardstown Road and many shops and restaurants.  The sun was still up after the show, and though it was a really cold day, we wandered and enjoyed the light.

frozen fountain

El Taco Luchador for dinner, some handmade ice cream, and drinks and pinball at the Outlook Inn. Home to watch Pretty In Pink (!!) and heavy petting on some cats and asleep in a comfy bed.

Till next year, then.

the love language we can never remember...

I've written about love languages before - remember I added one about food??  Well, Dan knows that one of the languages that speaks to me is quality time, and that has been in short supply around here. I want it for myself and I want it for my kids and their papa, and there is often just so little time to squeeze in.  But when Dan does have time, he gives it all to us - a gesture that I know costs him some buddy-time with colleagues and alone-time by himself. So when we can make some quality time work for us on many levels, it is such a win, and that's what happened this weekend: a date night in another STATE, seeing theater!! 

SITI Company is the theater company that Dan focused on for his dissertation research, which entailed interviewing members, attending rehearsals, viewing hours of past productions in the collection at the Lincoln Center Theater on Film Archive.  It was with SITI Company that he attended a 5-week workshop in NYC just over a year ago, and with whom he will train again for a month this summer.  He believes in their work and is always looking for a way to see their current efforts.  When he learned that their new production, Steel Hammer, was being performed at the Humana Festival in Louisville, KY - a mere 4 hours away - he asked me if I wanted to go!  Mind  you, he opened a play last week himself, and Sunday was his first night off in something like 13 days, but Yes! a road trip for a play - quality time in the car, seeing amazing theater, an evening of adult conversation...huge sigh of happiness.

Molly's loving arms are LONG!

The whole trip was couched in other love languages:  it could not have happened if our friend Jen was not willing to take the girls under her wing for 2 days (where they would run around in their underwear with the goats and the chickens, planting potatoes and playing hide-and-seek in the woods - and eat really really good food!) and when we arrived at the fancyschmancy hotel there was something waiting for us...our friend Molly, whose hometown is Louisville, had arranged for her sister to drop off a bag of treats for us to enjoy on our night in her town!!  WHAT??? 

More love languages: acts of service, and gifts. Oh, and food! That's wonderful homemade green tomato salsa in that picture.

So, this is me, with my first ever taste of Kentucky bourbon, enjoying the view, feeling loved, relaaaaaaaxing. Wow. That feels good.

the view from the 17th floor

I am not sure how to articulate how I felt about the play we saw.  I understood so much better what Dan is working on with his voice and movement students:  the focus and intensity of connection between the performers, the trance-like moments that they sustained, the physical and emotional endurance of actor and audience.  During one scene the actors ran laps around a raised center for maybe 10 minutes, and the energy that was raised was electric!  My body had a physical response to the experience, buzzing and excited in a way I've only felt rarely through a visualized meditation. The music - recorded by Bang on a Can and Trio Mediaeval - was mesmerizing. 

My point is, it was exactly what you would hope to experience, having traveled to another state to see a play.  We came home tired but filled.

Dan had one other night off this week, and now that we are in the forget-the-dishes-let's-get-back-outside part of the spring (right? aren't we there?), we headed out for a sunset hike all together.

"The sky is like a bowl! A huge dome I hold in my hands!" 

So many I love you's. Words of affirmation. Physical Affection. I think we've met them all this week.

Photo by Eliza.  It is NOT 2007. Damn date stamp, how do we get rid of you??

LOVE.