And So Betwixt the Two of Them

'I thought I was on the gravy train, and then the Wabash cannon ball got me.'

It has been said that when the time for action comes, the time for preparation has passed, and I very much agree.

I've had some recent discussions with a couple of friends about this in the context of marriage. It would appear that too many get caught up in getting to and preparing for the wedding but few they are who work toward and plan for the marriage. The happy day then comes and passes and the two find there is much more of work to making their union work than perhaps they bargained for. So much focus given to happily getting married and few who pay attention to the personal adjustments and preparations required to go on happily living married.

It's not an event to which we ought aspire, but a manner of being for which we need to plan. Where two people meet and feel so compelled to serve one another and to provide for the needs and wants of one another seems a more promising situation than two who meet and stumble into love and can't take their eyes off each other. It seems we often seek out the gravy expecting the substance and nutrition of the meat to follow, when it's actually the meat, after having been well prepared and cooked, which gives rise to the stock from which the gravy can be made and, once united, both may be enjoyed together.

As a single young woman, I have had small tastes of gravy and I have had some taste of meat. Could it be that perhaps the man whom I seek has been kept from me because I have not yet made of myself the person he seeks? Vice versa? Maybe the timing is off for one or both of us. It could be a number of things, but one thing remains sure: on the whole, I yet remain a lone and hungry Jack Sprat. I decided today that I will continue to strive to live for the right steak, in the right place, at the right time. And until that time, there is much preparation I need to do so that when the inevitable banquet day comes and goes, the true feast will continue long after.

Bon appetite!

Random Spouting

I just got back from Scotland this past week and had a lovely time of it. I'll wait to post most details until I get a chord to connect my camera to my Mac so it can be a picture story.

You may have already heard tell of the 8.5 hour flight back to the U.S. - with the drunken Polish men who sat next to me in the center row. They came onto the plane (already under the influence, I later discovered) with a legal bottle of vodka, which they proceeded to illegally (I now know) mix quite liberally with the regular beverage service. I never knew that middle-aged men could be so giddy, but they were very kind and I had them wrapped around my finger, even with the huge language barrier.

They nearly cleaned out the liter (and a half?) bottle of vodka, somewhere around the half-way point, before I convinced them they had had more than enough and to give me the bottle. Disturbing all those around us, they several times had to stifle their schoolgirl giggles with the airline courtesy pillows as they laughed themselves to tears over nothing. It was unbelievably funny. I gave in to only a handful of the offers to share snacks.

Though I have a free place to stay in Poland next time I'm there, I turned down the invitations to dance as well as the request for my phone number, however, the only single guy in the group managed to get away with my junk-mail e-mail address (scrawled into a book he had with him) before we finished the taxi into the gate. We'll see if I ever hear from him. Have you ever seen the movie Serendipity; isn't that how it starts? lol

On a different subject, I had my first awkward moment of being nearly the only young single adult (not just out of high school) in a family ward; and it was going so well up to now. *sigh* Well, I had my hair curled from doing a scene from Much Ado last night and I just finished sewing a cute dress this morning in time to wear it to Church. Well, I thought I looked cute but I didn't think I'd get quite the responses I did today.

I was walking in the hall to do music with the nursery classes, when I said hello to a couple of sisters talking about something with one of the brethren in the ward. They're all married, but none of them to each other. The ladies proceeded to tell me they loved my dress and that I looked really great today. I thanked them, and the brother (who is usually pretty cool) said, "I'd tell you that you look great too, but I'm married and I can't say those things to the single sisters." He had a point - except we'd all be better off if he'd kept that gem to himself. Awkward.

I'll never know why, but one of the ladies then spurted out, "Well then, I'll say it for him - you're a hottie!" What? Unbelievably awkward! I chuckled nervously and continued down the hall in disbelief. Now I'm going to see this brother at church functions, and potentially others in the ward, and consciously have to convince myself that I'm all but invisible to them as I have heretofore subconsciously assumed. What a terrible burden - I much prefer total ignorance to any possibility that people could think such things about me.

Anyway, rehearsals for my Theater in the Park show are in full swing and I'm loving it. I get to store the costumes at my house because I have room and our original director - who has heretofore stored them - is moving out of state and asked that I take them. I still haven't addressed the matter of kissing my counter actor. How do you tactfully tell a guy that you insist on practicing your stage kiss before you actually do it in rehearsal? "Hi. If you'll just come with me to this out-of-view corner so I can practice kissing you, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks." I'm sure it won't be as bad as all that once it's over with, but I just would like it if the first kiss were over with already.