The Hamilton Experience

Two weeks ago, I had the privilege of seeing the musical Hamilton.

If you know me well, you know that I have been obsessed with this musical for about a year now. And when I say "obsessed," I mean that I have had it playing on a constant loop in my car at least 95% of the time since about last April (and I am still not tired of it), have spent hours down the rabbit hole watching various Hamilton-related videos and interviews, and have spontaneously burst into lyrics when the occasion presents itself. I even incorporated one of Hamilton's essays into my American Literature curriculum. (And maybe I showed a couple of video clips from the show. And maybe I even gave the day a hashtag.)

When I first read about this musical while it was in previews, I thought, "A hip-hop/rap musical about a founding father? I think I'll pass." And then I watched this performance on last year's Grammy Awards and was a quick convert from that point on.

Okay. I think I have established that I am a bit of a fan.

So anyway...the show.

We had two tickets for the matinee show of Saturday, January 14. Darryl was originally going to go with me, but around mid-November, I decided to take Amelia instead. Sure, Darryl would have been a good sport about it (and he would have enjoyed the show, I am pretty sure), but Amelia knows the soundtrack almost as well as I do, and she, too, is fascinated by anything Hamilton related. I'm so glad I was able to experience it with her.

(Yes, there are some "colorful" lyrics in Hamilton, but A) Amelia misses many of them because they are whizzed through in quick, rapid fire lyrics, B) We have addressed the ones she can hear and explained that those are not words her 9-year-old self should be saying, and finally C) I was listening to the Grease soundtrack on my 8-track when I was six years old, and I think I turned out okay.)

(Why am I defending my parenting choices?)

ANYWAY.

First, the audience was just great. It was probably the most diverse audience I have been a part of -- by race, by age -- and to say that the crowd was electric with anticipation would be a gross understatement.

Here's what you also need to know: I am not a very emotional person. I don't cry often. Sure, I might get what my friend Tim calls "wet in the eyes" on occasion, but a full-on cry? Rarely happens.

Well. Hamilton flipped that switch from the get-go.

When I heard those oh-so-familiar "dah da da da da da dah" beginning notes, hot tears started streaming down my face. STREAMING. As in I could not stop them. I think I was just gobsmacked with the reality that I was "in the room where it happens." (See? Spontaneous outburst of lyrics. #sorrynotsorry #itwillhappenagain)

I think it is safe to say that of that 3-hour show, there might have been 30 minutes that I was not crying in some form or fashion, from tears dancing on the ends of my eyelashes to the full-on UGLY CRY.

via GIPHY
(Noted: Oprah's eyeshadow has more staying power than mine did.)

I cried over the story itself, as the musical chronicles the rise, fall, and ultimate redemption of the ambitious-almost-to-a-fault title character.

I cried whenever Amelia looked at me with a big smile on her face. (She smiled. I cried. Between the two of us, we ran the gamut of emotions.)

I cried whenever someone died. Two of these deaths brought on the above ugly cry.

I cried from the song "Hurricane" (when Hamilton decides to come clean about his single greatest moral failure) to the end, and the last song, "Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story"-- a reminder to all of us that we need to live our lives in such a way that others will feel compelled to "tell our story"--LAID. ME. OUT.


via GIPHY

(I would like to say that is an exaggeration, but I'm not so sure.)

But here's the other thing, too... *

When I bought my tickets last May, I had no idea what would be going on in our country on January 14, 2017, that it would be the weekend before one president would be leaving his eight years as our leader and that Donald Trump, of all people, would be swearing in as our new president.

And as I sat there in the Richard Rodgers Theatre, amongst that diverse crowd I mentioned earlier, I realized just how transcendent Hamilton really is...

At one point in the show, George Washington tells Hamilton that he is stepping down as president, expressing the necessity for the nation to grow and flourish under new leadership while also acknowledging the uncertainty of the future. As I watched, I couldn't help thinking about the unrelenting misgivings many of us currently have.

When Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton sang to their respective daughter and son, "You'll come of age with our young nation / We'll bleed and fight for you / We'll make it right for you," I was saddened that nothing feels very "right" right now. And I so want it to feel and be "right," especially for the future generation.

And ultimately, in one of the last moments of the play, Alexander Hamilton soliloquizes these thoughts in the moments before his death:

I wrote some notes at the beginning of a song someone will sing for me
America, you great unfinished symphony, you sent for me
You let me make a difference
A place where even orphan immigrants
Can leave their fingerprints and rise up

Well.

I think Alexander Hamilton would HAVE SOME THINGS TO SAY about some of the goings-on the past few days.

(I'm stepping off the soapbox now.)

Now, lest you think that Hamilton was the most depressing afternoon of my life (because as I have mentioned one or twelve times, I cried a lot), I assure you it was not. I smiled. I laughed -- because there is much, MUCH humor as well. And honestly, the whole experience felt like an emotional cleansing that was long overdue.

I will end with this:

Hamilton is the single-most captivating, enthralling, and all-those-kind-of-adjectives theatre experience I have ever had.

Not only that, I would say seeing Hamilton is one of the top ten experiences of my life.

I will never forget this afternoon with my girl.**

*I really hesitated to write this part. I rarely say anything political because I hate dissension and conflict. I know that the current social issues that are plaguing our nation are complex and that there is no simple solution, and I'm not trying to minimize or oversimplify these issues. However, these feelings were such a vital part of this experience that I wanted to include them, if for no other reason than memory keeping.

**If you are not a fan of musicals and somehow made it to the end of this post, I understand if you want to respond with a big eyerolling emoji. 

Hello, 2017!!

Well.

I haven't blogged in a year and one day. In fact, at first it took several tries to access my blog to write anything, because logins and passwords.

I'm not going to do a whole recap of 2016. Instead, I'm going to being on a very Pollyanna-esque note and list the ten things that I am grateful for from 2016:

1. The health of my family
2. The beginning of a writing center at my school, something I have wanted to see for quite some time
3. A great vacation with my parents to Yellowstone for their 50th wedding anniversary
4. Everything Hamilton
5. LaLa Land (If you haven't seen it, DO. And if you see it and don't like it, we probably can't be friends. Just kidding. Maybe.)
6. A fun trip to Baton Rouge this summer -- just me and Amelia -- to surprise her best friend on her birthday
7. A pretty good group of students this school year
8. Wonderful times spent with friends who often feel like family
9. Our school system's value of fine arts
10. FINALLY finishing the Harry Potter book series (I thought Book 5, The Order of the Phoenix, was never going to end, but Books 6 and 7 made up for it. And the chapter "The Prince's Tale" in Book 7? Gah.)

Personally, 2016 was a pretty good year for us. In terms of politics and, oh my word, the loss of some celebrity icons, FAREWELL, 2016.

Now, onward to 2017. I would be remiss if I didn't include a few resolutions, right? Here we go...

1. Read 25 books for fun. (I set this goal for myself in 2016 and made it through 17 books. Not too shabby, but I could do better. I blame part of my "coming up short" on The Order of the Phoenix.)
2. Lose 20 pounds. (It wouldn't be a proper set of resolutions without one devoted to weight loss.)
3. Cook at home more -- dare I shoot for 4 nights a week? (If you think that's ridiculous...eating out or picking up food on the way home is a weakness of ours.)
4. Spend less time on my phone / social media. (I'm going to try to limit my social media "check-in" to one time a day. Morning? Evening? I just finished Lauren Graham's memoir, and her chapter called "Look Up" about our society's cell phone obsession has inspired me to, in fact, look up.)
5. Spend more time doing creative things, whether it be playing the piano again, writing more (maybe on this blog?), trying new recipes, scrapbooking...I want to spend more time doing those things.

Here we go...

You Were a Good Year, 2015

Yep.

I basically took a 4-month blogging hiatus. Oops.

I thought I would kill two birds with one stone, though, and offer a bit of a retrospective of the past year and begin 2016 with a clean slate while also filling in the gaps of my less-than-consistent blogging schedule.

The short version is this: I thought 2015 was an amazing year.

January
Darryl and I kicked off the year in California. We went to the Rose Parade and the Rose Bowl, then traveled into Temecula.

Toward the end of the January, he completed "The Dopey Challenge" at Disney World, something that I thought he was nuts for doing when he signed up for it, but I was very proud of him for completing it. The experience was even more special because several of his family members ran the marathon portion with him.

February
February was a bit of a low-key month, but Amelia and I took a girls' trip to Birmingham to go to the StepSing show at my alma mater, Samford. I loved showing Amelia the campus, and we also saw my former student Katie after the StepSing performance.

My parents came up in February, also, and my mom and I spent a day together and ended the day by seeing a performance of Les Mis at a local theatre. So good!

March

In March, we got rid of the CR-V we had bought right before Amelia was born, and I got a Subaru Outback. I love it!

Darryl and I also celebrated 16 years of marriage. (And I'm going to confess I have no idea what we did to celebrate. Dinner, maybe?)

Amelia also performed as the Little Red Hen in a production of The Little Red Hen. She did a fabulous job!

April

We made the trek to Baton Rouge to visit some of our friends that we missed (and still miss) dearly. We had such a great time catching up with everyone!

May

Four words: School's. Out. For. Summer!!!!!!

June

Amelia and I visited my parents, and we took a sunset pirate cruise!

We took a family trip to Yosemite and then traveled on to Lake Tahoe to meet up with some of Darryl's family.

July

Darryl brought home a surprise in the form of a mini-dachshund puppy that Amelia named Billy. Boy, did he introduce a whirlwind of activity into our home! We surely do love him, though.

My friend Rebecca and I took a girls' trip to Temecula and had such a good time, we decided we need to take a trip every year!

August

Amelia started 2nd grade. SECOND GRADE! Seriously, wasn't she just a sweet little baby riding along in her infant seat? (Incidentally, she is having an awesome year so far!) I also started back to work, but I didn't bother taking a photo of me in my back-to-school outfit with my school bag. :-)

Amelia also achieved her goal of taking a selfie with Wolfie, our mascot.

This was also the month that our dear friend Mr. Patterson passed away. He was such a wonderful man.

Darryl also finished the built-in bookcases that he said would be ready by Memorial Day (nope!), July 4th (nope!), the end of summer (nope!), Labor Day (yes, Lord!).  (Side note: While it might not have been the fastest project, he did an AMAZING job, and they really transformed the look of the room.)

September

Amelia started playing soccer for the first time ever this fall. She enjoyed it a good bit, and I think it was good for her to be on a team. Her favorite position was goalie. (Fun fact: Her team did not score a single goal until the final two games of the season, when they scored several!)

I became an assistant coach (along with my friend/colleagues Tim and Lisa) of the quiz bowl team (that's right -- I would never be the coach of something ATHLETIC, for Pete's sake), and we enjoyed a fun competition on the High Q quiz show that airs locally.

My mother and I also had a memorable evening attending a Willie Nelson concert. She has wanted to see him perform as long as I can remember. It was a fun (and definitely interesting) experience!

(That's right. My mom is holding a bandana that says, "Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die.")

October

During the fall (I can't pinpoint which month), Darryl and I finally joined a couples' group with our church. Several of the ladies and I went to a women's event that actually turned out to be quite good. (I mainly wanted to go to see/hear Melanie Shankle, whose blog I've been reading for years, talk. I told the girls in the group I had no idea what to expect; all I knew was that Melanie was funny and they would enjoy her. We ended up having a great time, and I even got to meet Melanie!)

I took Amelia to a pumpkin patch. I'm not sure how many more years she will like doing things like this, but I'm going to enjoy it while I can!

We had a great homecoming week at school, ending with a "Fun Day" and a football game that made me so proud of our school and student body.

Darryl ran the Marine Corps Marathon and said it was probably one of his favorite races he's ever done. (He's also trying to convince me to run it with him in 2016. We will see...)

"Birthday Season" for the three of us began with Darryl. Woot woot!

And we ended with Halloween, of course. Amelia was Hermoine Granger from Harry Potter. A few couples came over with their kids to our house for some food and trick or treating fun.

November

I turned 42 and while I have no photo evidence, I had a fun birthday and felt very loved.

Amelia turned 8 and opted to invite just a couple of girlfriends to see the new Peanuts movie and to come back to our house for cake and pizza.

(How do you like Darryl the photobomber back there?)

We also enjoyed having our friends Rebecca and Damian over for Thanksgiving. I completely failed on taking photos. :-(

December

Y'all, December was crazy...just as it is for almost everyone. I could post a ton of photos, but I won't. (I'll just say that this post has taken about four times the length of time I thought it would, and I'm just ready to stick a fork in it and call it a day. But I will forge on!)

Amelia walked with the chorus as part of the Christmas parade.

We did some fun activities like ice skating and going to the Nutcracker. We were very fortunate to have my parents AND Darryl's family come up for Christmas. We had twelve people in this house (including us), and it was the craziest but also one of the most fun Christmases I can remember.

Amelia has embraced Star Wars in a big way, and she was thrilled when we all went to see the movie the day after Christmas.

I went to see the lights at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens this past Monday night with my friends Tim, Max, and Anna. It was pouring rain, but the tickets said, "Rain or shine," so we went. The lights were beautiful, the company was perfect, and it was quite the adventure. Also, I'm pretty sure my jeans weighed 20 pounds by the time the evening was over.

And then today, we went to the Peach Bowl game with some friends of ours. Florida State didn't win, but we had a fun time anyway. (Also, the Marching Chiefs are always a thrill to watch!)

I just realized that Darryl and I spent the first and last day of 2015 watching FSU play (and...lose). Interesting.

And that wraps up a pretty amazing year. Thank you, 2015!

(English Teacher Confession: I'm so tired of this blog post, I haven't even bothered proofreading it.)

Mr. Patterson

My parents moved to Wewahitchka, Florida, when I was only one year old, and one of the first people they met was their neighbor from a few doors down, Fletcher Patterson. Mr. Patterson and his wife, Jo, quickly became a significant fixture in our lives. My childhood is full of memories with the Pattersons--eating meals at each other's houses, fishing off the end of their dock, visiting in each other's backyards.

I was in third grade when I started taking piano lessons, and Mr. Patterson, the organist at the church we attended, was one of my biggest encouragers. I don't think he ever missed any piano recital or program that I performed in from the time I first started playing until I left for college. He had a very distinctive way of clearing his throat (not in a gross way, but in a unique "Mr. Patterson way"), and even if I couldn't see his face in the crowd, I would hear him clear his throat and think, "Well, Mr. Patterson is here!" and it was always reassuring.

When the old organ at the Baptist church was on its last leg, he played an instrumental role (no pun intended, but I like it!) in raising funds for a new, "fancy" organ with lots of cool buttons and new sounds. I was only in elementary school at the time, but rather than dissuading me from touching the brand new, very expensive church organ, he urged me to play it as often as I wanted. But no one could play the organ quite like he could. Fun fact: When he would sit down to play the prelude before church each Sunday morning, he was known to make that opening chord a loud one...maybe to make sure we were all awake and sitting at attention. And at Christmas, he would always play, "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" in the full-on chime setting, because of course.

Mr. Patterson was also a former English teacher (and, by the way, guidance counselor and principal at various points in his life), and when I could not, for the life of me, understand parts of speech in eighth grade (who knew that I was an English teacher in the making?), he tutored me at his kitchen table until it finally made sense, and gave me one of his old teaching textbooks as a souvenir that I still have to this day.

When Darryl and I got engaged, the Pattersons insisted on hosting a wedding shower for me in their home. They pulled out all the stops, complete with a decorated trellis over the front walkway to their house and a food spread like no other. I asked them to sit with the family at our wedding because the truth was that they were family.

Once Amelia entered our lives, she was quickly introduced to the Pattersons. History repeated itself as she, too, enjoyed the fun of fishing from the end of their dock and visiting them in their living room that overlooked the lake, with the same golden carpet that has been there since 1974. They adored her, and the feeling was mutual. Over the past few months, as Mr. Patterson's health declined, she mentioned that she wanted to take him a basket of healthy food so that he would get better. :-)

Mr. Patterson died this morning in his home at the age of 90. He lived a long, full life with an adoring wife, two devoted sons, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and a community that loved him. When I told Amelia, she started crying. She really has never known anyone personally who has died before. I wanted her to feel the emotions she needed to feel, and I didn't want to gloss over his death, but I reminded her that Mr. Patterson is in heaven now and that he is healthy and happy because he is with God. She said, "Yes, but I'm still sad because I'm never going to see him here again." And then I started crying because I think she summed it up perfectly. As a Christian, I'm grateful for the confidence that he is in heaven, but it feels wrong that we are never going to see him in this life again.

Over the years, Mr. Patterson and I played several piano-organ duets together for the offertory at church. One of the first ones we performed together was the song "Beautiful Isle of Somewhere":

Somewhere the sun is shining,
Somewhere the songbirds dwell;
Hush, then, thy sad repining,
God lives, and all is well.

Somewhere the day is longer,
Somewhere the task is done;
Somewhere the heart is stronger,
Somewhere the prize is won.

Somewhere the load is lifted,
Close by an open gate;
Somewhere the clouds are rifted,
Somewhere the angels wait.

Somewhere, somewhere,
Beautiful Isle of Somewhere!
Land of the true, where we live anew,
Beautiful Isle of Somewhere!

I firmly believe that Mr. Patterson is in that "beautiful isle of somewhere," and that he is healthy and whole. He might even have his hair. And if I can be indulgent in my own fantasy of what heaven might be like...

I would like to think that there is this ginormous pipe organ, grander than those at the finest cathedrals in the world, and that he sits down and opens with a really loud chord that rattles the heavens, just to make sure the saints and angels are paying attention.

Summer 2015, you are my favorite.

I'm going to state this for the record: Summer 2015 is the best summer I have enjoyed in quite some time.

Summer vacation and I have a spotty history. While I have many happy memories of summers past, I also have quite a few sad or unpleasant ones...like the summer Darryl's dad passed away after fighting cancer, or the summer my mom battled a lingering, scary bout of meningitis. There was also the summer our house sale fell through and we had to unpack our stuff and put it back where it was. Or the summer that I had my wisdom teeth removed and had a stubborn "pocket" that refused to heal correctly. Or there was last summer, where I was trying to fight "the funk" every single day after leaving our life in Baton Rouge. Granted, a couple of those things are obviously more significant than others, and no one is at fault for any of those things...but I--pessimistically, I suppose--tend to remember those summers by those events.

But Summer 2015 was nothing short of amazing.

I enjoyed time with my family both at their home and at mine.

We had a great trip to San Francisco, Yosemite, and Lake Tahoe, where we were able to visit with Darryl's extended family.

I read a lot of books, particularly in the first half of the summer.

I watched three seasons of The Good Wife. (So good!)

I went to movies, including a few that weren't animated!

I spent a good bit of time in the kitchen, my happy place.

I was able to take a girls' trip to San Diego / Temecula with my good friend Rebecca. (Who can argue with two trips to California in one summer?)

We welcomed our new (hyper but sweet) dachshund puppy, Billy!

I took some good naps.

We didn't have to move anywhere!

I was able to finish up a few house tasks, like organizing the pantry and kitchen, cleaning out "that room" that was full of boxes, and fixing up Amelia's room.

I spent lots of time at the pool with Amelia.

Basically, this summer was everything I wanted it to be -- fun, relaxing, and spent with the people I love. And you know what? I also feel more ready for school than I have in some time, and I think it has something to do with the fact that this summer was so satisfying. Often times, I have thoughts like, "I wish I had one more week so I could do such and such," but not this year.

So thank you, Summer 2015. You were awesome.

"Having a dog is hard work."

That was what Amelia said last night right before she went to bed.

Amen, sister.

Here's a little update on life with Billy...

First, I am excited (although I know from parenting a human child not to get TOO excited) that Billy slept until 6 a.m. this morning, which was a nice change from his typical 4:00 wake-up call.

(Those extra two hours of sleep made me ridiculously productive already, as I took advantage of some Nordstrom and Children's Place sales and purchased some needed school clothes for both me and Amelia before 7 a.m. Boom.)

(And now I'm writing a blog post. I'm every woman!!)

Back to Billy...

Let's just say that Billy has gotten quite comfortable in his new home, and his more demure personality of week one with us is a thing of the past. He pretty much runs on two speeds: wide open and fast asleep.

He now sleeps comfortably in his crate at night with little to no whining. (Apparently our egregious mistake of letting him sleep with us the first night did not set him on the wayward path for life, contrary to what the Internet had to say on that topic.)

Housebreaking him has had its ups and downs. Two days ago, I'm pretty sure I cleaned up four accidents in the house; yesterday, he had only one.  When we take him outside to go to the bathroom, he likes to do this:

Obviously, he cares nothing about the fact it is 90 degrees outside. What's the rush?

But he is cute. And sweet. And snuggly.

He is also a bit spoiled. Yesterday, my friend Blayne came over for breakfast and to see Billy, and Billy kept following me around, whining. You know what he wanted? He wanted me to pick him up and put him on the couch so he could take a nap.

He pretty much has us wrapped around his tiny paw. :-)

A Girls' Trip to Temecula

I've been a bit quiet on the blog front the past week or so because A) PUPPY, and B) I have been out of town.

(I might possibly have to compose a post about how having a puppy is not unlike having a newborn.)

ANYWAY, last week, I went on a girls' trip to Temecula, California, with my friend Rebecca.

Why Temecula? Well, why not Temecula?

(If you have never heard of Temecula...it is considered the "wine country" of Southern California, about 45 minutes from San Diego.)

First, I think you need to know a little bit of background. About a year and a half ago, the Seminoles were going to the Rose Bowl, and Darryl, being the diehard Seminole fan that he is, really wanted to go. He went back and forth on whether or not he should go, thinking how expensive of a trip that would be. Not really caring that much about the game itself, I told Darryl that to cut down on cost, he could invite a friend or a family member to go with him because I really had no desire to go.

So Darryl invited his good friend Damian, but in the weeks leading up to the game, they started planning a side excursion to Temecula. And just like that, their trip turned into a BROmantic weekend that Rebecca (Damian's wife) and I would have been interested in.

Well, this past Spring Break, we stayed with Damian and Rebecca in Baton Rouge, and the guys' trip somehow came up in one of our conversations. (Obviously, Rebecca and I had completely let it go -- ha!) Anyway, Rebecca said something like, "Well, Amy and I might take our own trip to Temecula!" and get this--the guys pretty much said, "Go ahead!"

Twist our arms, why don't ya?

So last Monday, Rebecca and I met up at the San Diego airport. Rebecca's flight got there before mine, so she had our Jetta rental car waiting at the curb when I walked out with my luggage. And we were off!

Our first stop was Rebecca's great aunt and uncle's condo in San Diego because we were spending the night with them. Over the years, I've gotten to meet quite a few of Rebecca's extended family, and they are quick to welcome anyone with open arms.  Rebecca's Uncle Butch and Aunt Kay were awesome hosts. They took us for a picnic on a hill (a vista?) overlooking the ocean.

And while we were there, we saw a marriage proposal take place. (Forgive the terrible photo, but I didn't want to get all up in their business.)

Tuesday morning, we set off for Temecula, taking the longer scenic coastal route. We stopped at a really cool coffee shop in Solana Beach because PRIORITIES.

Once we arrived in Temecula, our first stop was to pick up a brie bowl that Rebecca had tried before that she claimed was amazing, and let me tell you, it was amazing-plus.

Essentially, that is a bowl of sourdough bread that has been buttered and seasoned with a wheel of brie melted inside.

Y'all.

Be still my heart. (Perhaps literally.)

I will tell you that food, specifically cheese, was a big priority on this trip. We prided ourselves on having really no agenda, and it was so nice just to relax, eat, chat, eat, and take in the scenery.

And here is just a random collection of photos.

Thursday morning, we headed back to San Diego, but first we had brunch outside by the sea at the Hotel del Coronado. (I mean, I did say that food was a priority, right?)

(And in case you are wondering, yes, my shorts are a bit snug this week, but I have no regrets.)

It was a successful girls' trip that was everything we wanted it to be. It should come as no surprise that we might need to make this an annual getaway...