What is life without the connections we make with others… with ourselves?

This lifetime I have had a passion for seeking out the dots that connect me to others.  Passions,experiences, ideas;  amongst all these pieces of our unique puzzle there is a piece that can fit together with some part of almost anyone we encounter.

That is what drew me into theater the first time around.  I went and saw Winnie the Pooh at the cultural arts center in Deland. I saw the connection that the actors shared, and after the show I saw how they were like a creative family… and they were all full of energy and pride.  I wanted to feel that connection, be a part of that kind of energy.  The program for the production advertised auditions for The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, and I was there a few weeks later on a Monday evening in October of 1993.

It all felt right, natural. I was cast as an understudy to one of the main roles, Alice Wendleken.  I performed the Thursday night performance, and Friday and Saturday I was a choir member.

(This was the Christmas ornament that every member of the cast received to commemorate  the experience.)

I had my first french kiss backstage and I “became a woman” in the early part of December that year… all in the midst of belting out lines about Pussy Willow trees.  Ahh, what a time!

All of these feminine-centered experiences during my first turn on the stage fit nicely with my second (and current) production, The Vagina Monologues.

I discovered so much about myself in the final months of 1993, and I am still discovering in these first months of 2012.

Connecting with others, and connecting with myself.  Finding out that as women, we have so many triumphs and trials that already connect us.

My masochistic mind has stopped being enabled.  It reminds me of this Cherokee Legend that appears in my life whenever I need the reminder…

An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy.

“It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.” He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”

The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

I am realizing that I am at a place in my life where a garden has grown… and I cultivated the land. Whoa, I did this… and now I am here.  Not at the end of the journey… Oh, no- simply at a place where I have had experiences and have accomplished things… and I am soaking up the sun on this plateau.

With my creativity and my good wolf being fed, connections of the heart come naturally.  I am compelled to document this stellar energy I have absorbed.  This auspicious time has become my muse.

xo.