SUNRISE - February 13, 2011

February 13, 2011 Sunrise 6:58 am

  "The meeting of two eternities, the past and the future, is precisely the present moment."  - Thoreau

  Remember this?

“There is a fifth dimension, beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition and it lies between the pit of man’s fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call: The Twilight Zone.”


This last weekend hurled me through space and time and connected me to a small Twilight Zone episode of my own.  Thursday night, Lise and I headed off on an eight hour drive to Anaheim, leaving about 6:00 pm to arrive about 2:00 am on Friday morning.

Carnation Plaza Gardens Stage

The main reason we went on the journey was to see Sarah perform on the Carnation Plaza Gardens Stage. It is the longest-running big band stage in the world with many big name bands playing the little stage.  The roster includes Cab Calloway, Bob Crosby, Jimmy Dorsey, Artie Shaw, Lionel Hampton, Les Brown, Buddy Rich, Woody Herman, Stan Kenton, Harry James, Eartha Kitt, and Benny Goodman--whose orchestra was the first big-name group to perform on the stage, back in 1961.


"The stage itself is about 20 feet wide and can accommodate 35 to 40 musicians; larger groups spread out onto the terrazzo dance floor. They perform for audiences of up to 150 people under a canopy of gold and burgundy, which adds to the festive atmosphere. The history and the surroundings only enrich the experience for the student bands, orchestras and choruses that perform on the Carnation Plaza Gardens Stage" 

 

I digress.  Back to the Twilight Zone.  

 

The other reason we went on the trip was to help the orchestra get ready to perform.  Lise helped tune the instruments, as there was no warm-up time on stage - find your seat, get announced and start to play.  People do, however, judge a book by its cover (marketing), so in addition to sounding good, the orchestra had to look good.  That is where my part came in and started me down the path to the Twilight Zone.

The attire was 'black'.  Black shoes, black pants, black shirt and of course a black tie with the Natomas Charter School for the Performing Arts logo on the front.  Very cool.  These are twelve to seventeen year old students that wear attire like purple and silver Sketchers (a tennis shoe brand), low-cut, skin-tight, bleach spots and holes in the knees, pants to school every day.  Very rarely anything that requires a dress shirt and tie.

My task was to help everyone tie their tie.  Impossible in the amount of time between getting dressed in a prep area behind ToonTown and traversing the back lot of Disneyland to pop out on stage in Carnation Plaza across from the Fantasyland Castle.

So, with a lot of time to kill on the long drive in the middle of the night, I set the box of forty ties on my lap in the front passenger seat and proceeded to tie the ties and, leaving them still tied, slipped them off over my head and tossed them into a black silk pile in the back seat.  

 

The idea was to have the students just slip the pre-tied tie over their head when they got dressed and cinch it up - ten seconds start to finish (it did work very well, thank you).

 

Lise and I stopped somewhere in the God-awful wasteland of windmills and barren pastureland in the dark to have a bite to eat and get gas.  Dutiful mule that I am, I jumped out, gassed up the car, popped into the all-nite mart, grabbed some drinks and snacks, jumped back into the car and as we sped off into the night, I finished fixing the ties.  About thirty minutes later, with just a few ties left to go, Lise asked me a question and I didn't hear her.

That in itself is not so strange.  I have been accused of selective hearing by many.  This night's issue was especially unusual because we had just invested $2400 in auditory enhancement devices (some say hearing aids) earlier last week.  I reached up to see if my left AED (my new term) had come loose.  Much worse.  It was gone.  The process of repeatedly pulling the ties backwards over my head and tossing them into an ever-growing pile in the back seat had apparently pulled the AED loose and out of my ear.

My Auditory Enhancement Device

I freaked out  - just about $1200 dollars worth.  I went over every square inch of the front seat.  Under the seat.  Between the seats. Climbed into the back seat (we are still driving at 70 mph away from out last stop). Felt around, over, under, etc. everywhere.  I gently caressed every damn tie in the pile, placing them, ever so gently, back into the box.

Nada.  Nothing, Gone.  The only thing I could think of, was the device had loosened with the tie pulling action and unfortunately fallen out at the gas station out by the pumps or in or around the convenience store in the dark.  This was turning out to be a much more expensive trip than just Disneyland tickets, a hotel room and travel expenses.

I sulked the rest of the trip to the hotel.  I finished the ties along the way.  We arrived, went to our room, unpacked and got our four hours of sleep before seeing sunrise over Disneyland.  

 

After I scoured the car very thoroughly, one more time in daylight and worked on how I would make this into a half-full metaphor for my life, we walked a half mile to Disneyland, helped with the mini-concert (wow, did those ties look sharp) and in the course of the day, walked and additional 10,000 miles through Disneyland and the sister park, Disney California Adventure (enduring an act-your-age defying flight of gut busting, eyeball snapping,  roller coaster rides) and then the I-can't-feel-my-legs-below-my-knees half mile trek back to the hotel.  We got ready for bed. It was now midnight Friday night.  I finished my short but sweet 'SUNRISE and Time' entry for Friday on my miniature laptop.

I turned out the light and slid, exhausted, down into the sheets.  Having worked at hotels before, I have long been suspect of the quality, or lack thereof, of prepping a room after one guest leaves and another arrives. It wasn't without total surprise when I felt something in the sheets at the foot of my bed.  Like a bug.  I leaped out of bed, turned on the light and ripped back the sheets to catch the little intruder.

 

There was my hearing aid.

 

I have not a clue as to how.  I was jubilant in my now overflowingly full,  optimism glass.  I just saved $1200.  Rod Serling is my long lost friend.  Can't explain it.  Lise cannot either.  I fully expected to see it not there when I woke up Saturday morning.  Like I had dreamed or imagined it.  I am wearing it now.  It works.  I can hear you laughing.

Sometimes it is best to not question God's mysterious ways.

Yes, I can hear you now.

rlw

SUNRISE - February 12, 2011

February 12, 2011 Sunrise 6:39 am

"How does a child spell LOVE?"

T.I.M.E.

Well worth the time invested for this past few days.  I am sure Sarah was glad we made the journey to watch her play.

Drove back from Disneyland today just in time to shower, change clothes and go to see Romeo & Juliet by the Sacramento Ballet.  Fantastic.  Tragic, but great love story.  Beautiful costumes...dancers were superb.

"How does a spouse spell LOVE?"

T.I.M.E.

We missed the boys when they moved out on their own.  We are starting to get snapshots of when Sarah will be out of the nest.

Lise and I have had kids in the house the whole time we have known each other.  Soon, there will be a time just for us.  We got a small piece of that nugget of time this weekend.  We are looking forward to more.

rlw

SUNRISE - February 11, 2011

February 11, 2011 Sunrise 6:33 am

This post is from Disneyland.  A long, but perfect day.  Sarah performed well, the weather was outstanding (76) and although we only had 4 hours sleep, we held up fairly well.

Time well spent.

will flesh out when not posting from my notebook.

rlw

SUNRISE - February 10, 2011

February 10, 2011 Sunrise 7:03 am

"Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see." ~Neil Postman

Well, here we are on a grand adventure, using work time we don't really have to spare, investing that time in family and our child, sure to pay huge dividends, regardless of how the stock market shifts.  Sarah is off on a charter bus to Disneyland to perform tomorrow morning on stage in Toon Town with her school orchestra.  

She has been in a tizzy picking out and packing the appropriate "teenager" clothes (I think all the outfits are new..it was a 'girls only' shopping trip).  She has had an ever expanding list of 'absolutely necessary' items to bring.  At about eleven o'clock last night she gave me her 'Aren't I your little girl-I love you, Daddy' look...you know, the one that can melt a glacier....and desperately needed (like, I have to or I will surely die) a dozen NEW songs downloaded from iTunes and synced onto her iPod.  

The chosen songs were the standard fare we listen to EVERY DAY on the way home from school.  She has eight pre-set FM stations on my car stereo.  No matter which button you push - you WILL hear one of those twelve songs.  

The significance was not the action of loading 'hip' (I have no idea what the current term is) current songs, but was that we unloaded the Hanna Montana and Disney kids songs.  Now, she is officially a teenager.

I met her at school today ,to not pick her up, but to have her toss her school backpack into the car for me to take home so she wouldn't have to cart it around with her two suitcases and cello for four days. 

"Thanks, Dad.  Love you, bye."  Five words - five seconds.  I watched her dash away to the tour bus to be with her friends.  No look back.  Every step she took was a major moment in time. We all have major crossroads in our lives, that once you pass over the threshold of the new path, you will never be the same, and you can't go back.   

She is no longer a little girl (but, will always be my little girl).  I know that sometime in the fairly recent past that the transition has already happened, but I didn't quite absorb the change as fully as I did today.  It was only a few days ago when we dropped her off at kindergarten with a new dress, new shoes and a ladybug back pack.  She hated to see us go (and we hated to go).  


There will be more of these crossroads: high school, college, boyfriends, but somehow, this one seems to hold more significance.


Lise and I will take a day off work tomorrow.  We are driving seven hours down to Anaheim tonight, buy ridiculously expensive Disneyland tickets for one-day, just so we can stand in the audience for thirty minutes to watch her, all dressed up in her new outfit, playing cello on stage in front of a whole lot of people.  I will be in the front row. Smiling.  Worth every penny and every minute.


I can already feel this investment of time paying dividends.  I am very proud of her and happy for her to have this grand opportunity. Four  days away from mom and dad, a tour bus trip, three days in Disneyland, hanging with her friends (listening to the same 12 songs).  The cord is stretching pretty thin.  It will snap soon enough.  It will surely be one of those moments in time she will remember forever.  

I am lucky to be here to see it. 

I am a very rich man indeed.


rlw

SUNRISE - February 9,2011

February 9, 2011 Sunrise 7:03 am

 Go for it now.  The future is promised to no one.  ~Wayne Dyer

Tomorrow is the big trip for Sarah to travel to Anaheim on a charter bus with her school orchestra to play on stage at Disneyland.  She is very excited as am I for the opportunity to see her participate in this grand adventure. 


I am grateful for the opportunity to see it.  


The third person from my Tonsil Cancer forum that was about 2.5 years out from treatment, was diagnosed also with Lung Cancer.  Seems like an unfair follow-up to feeling like you beat this thing and then get whacked when you were off guard.


One must maintain a certain sense of humor at what life decides to throw at you.


“Most people think life sucks, and then you die. Not me. I beg to differ. I think life sucks, then you get cancer, then your dog dies, your wife leaves you, the cancer goes into remission, you get a new dog, you get remarried, you owe ten million dollars in medical bills but you work hard for thirty-five years and you pay it back and then -- one day -- you have a massive stroke, your whole right side is paralyzed, you have to limp along the streets and speak out of the left side of your mouth and drool but you go into rehabilitation and regain the power to walk and the power to talk and then -- one day -- you step off a curb at Sixty-seventh Street, and BANG you get hit by a city bus and then you die. Maybe.” - Denis Leary

SUNRISE - January 30, 2011

January 30, 2011 Sunrise 7:13 am

"Like tomorrow was a gift,
And you got eternity,
To think about what you’d do with it.
An' what did you do with it?
An' what can I do with it?
An' what would I do with it?"

...Tim McGraw

I have had people say to me, after I (in detail) described the six month endurance run through Hell to keep Cancer at bay (you only get the Iron Man/Woman title after you make it through), that they wouldn't go through that.  They said they would just let the Devil take its course.  

Recently, my seventh grade daughter got "called up" to the big high school orchestra because of her skill with the cello (Principal Chair/Cello for the Intermediate School Orchestra), for a tour bus trip to Disneyland, to perform on stage and cut a CD this coming Friday. Is Dad taking a vacation day, driving ten hours down to Anaheim, buying a day pass to Disneyland, and stand in the front row at the concert with the movie camera?  Absolutely! 

This will be a Golden Moment I would not have had, if I had chosen the weaker course of action in 2008 and not gotten fitted for my custom claustrophobia mask, had two months of radiation and chemotherapy treatment.

Will this cherished Golden Moment extend beyond me?  Absolutely.  My gift to my daughter, from all of this, will be her being able to look up from her music stand, on stage in front of a huge crowd in Disneyland (she is still young enough to know this is way cooler than Carnegie Hall), smiling at her Dad beaming with pride, and actually SEE me in the front row of her momentous concert, rather than having to say "I wish Dad could have been here to see this.  He would have loved it."

rlw

* excerpt from a longer post at 'Another Day in Paradise'