“The play is the thing!”

and there we were.

Lights dim.

The orchestra being itself.

The actors being someone entirely different.

All was as it should be.

The moment was perfect.

A mini-vacation....

the first outing since the funeral.

Nearly grown children sitting

one on either side of me.

The Godspell of Stephen Schwartz

provided laughter along with quiet moments.

Then it began...

“Day by day, day by day,

oh dear Lord, three things I pray...”

Bodies relaxed closer to my shoulders

as the childhood lullaby

sung so many times--

in middle-of-the-night rocking chairs,

lying beside bodies tucked into bigger beds

and even as a balm for broken teenaged hearts--

proved itself still effective

as healing.