Present Perfect

(Me with my good friend Stephen in Times Square, in front of the marquee for the Broadway show he is currently appearing in.)


Last week I was driving home from the theatre, and "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" started playing on the radio. And as I looked at the palm-tree-lined streets, the sunshine, and the A/C setting on my car, I chuckled to myself. At first I thought, "Shouldn't the radio station know better than to play that here?" But a moment later I realized that this is indeed what Christmas looks like. Christmas in Florida looks a lot different from the Christmases I'm used to, but that doesn't mean it's incorrect.

I hopped a plane to Atlanta, and then a second plane to Connecticut. On the latter flight, I actually had the remarkably good fortune of being in "A" (the window seat) with no one in "B" or "C". I decided that this must have been providence, as surely the odds of that sort of thing happening -- especially near a holiday -- must be insane. At one point I sat in the middle seat and stretched my arms out to either side, just because I could. I spent a good portion of the flight length-wise on the seats in "The Child's Pose" that I've been doing as a rest position in Voice class. I'm sure the flight attendants thought I was a loon, but no one said anything to me about it. And I must say, it was incredibly restful. Mission accomplished.

Connecticut is where my family has settled, but it still doesn't feel like home. That said, it's not as painful being here as it was last year (see last year's post, Not Quite Merry and Bright, and the subsequent post of I'll Be Fine and Dandy).

The highlight of the trip was that I got the gift I really, really wanted. The perfect present, in fact. I went to New York and was able to see my friend Stephen in his first Broadway show. Really, what could be better than that?

My parents ended up winning the ticket lottery an hour before the performance, and got discounted seats in the front row, so we all got to see Stephen in it. The show was great. Stephen is a phenomenal dancer, and seeing him up there was unreal. He took us backstage after the show (including into the star dressing room that has been used by the likes of Julie Andrews, Sutton Foster, Tyne Daly, Bernadette Peters, and Reba McEntire). Pretty freaking awesome.

(Stephen's name is totally on it!)

While I was in town, I also saw the Rockefeller tree, ate a pretty amazing chocolate chip cookie, drank hot chocolate that was so thick that it had similarities to pudding, and briefly saw my dear friend Annie in an Urban Outfitters.

(Annie and me. I so wish I looked better in this picture, but oh well.)

We made cinnamon rolls. We made truffles. We played Apples-to-Apples (I played "Helen Keller" on "Visionary"). And my mom and I watched the movie Mamma Mia! on the "Sing-Along" setting. Good times.

The presents I got people ended up going over pretty well (except for one DVD I bought my brother that he already had... but I think that's really just proof that I was on the right track). So I guess my worries were unfounded.

And now? I'm ready to go home. Back to Florida. Back to the 70-degree weather that doesn't make sense in December. It turns out, I kinda like it there... even though it really doesn't look like Christmas.


May you end up somewhere that you like being.

~A~

P.S. Yes, I know that titling this post "Present Perfect" is just as brilliant as titling the other one "Present Tense", and I'm so glad that you noticed just how fabulous I am for coming up with that.