As Inkling would say, "Hokey Dinah!" I'm tired. That's "tired" pronounced "Tarred." If you've ever lived in the south you know what I mean.
Note to self: who cares if you still have laundry to fold? Go to bed before midnight. Especially if you've worked yourself to the bone all afternoon & evening & have to go to town in the morning. That's just stupid on your part....and the next day you will be crazy-cranky "tarred."
Good news is, there's a Red Skelton marathon on TCM today. I just missed The Fuller Brush Man (one of my favorites), but I'm getting to see ones I've never seen before. I'd tape them all for you, QM, but my VCR is on the fritz. I can watch tapes (most of the time) but not record.
Last night while snapping green beans with the FarmHands I had a flash back. Not one of the drug induced type, just your normal, run-of-the-mill flash back. I was newly 18 & recently graduated from High School. The drama group Art, Did, Zann, Bubba and I were apart of were preforming Our Town. Being that my best friend Did was the director, I snagged the lead (She says I gave the best reading & was the most convincing as Emily, but she also gave her boy friend the lead male role, so who can really believe her? I'm kidding....Roleg was a wonderful George. And I know she agonized over casting the two of us in the two leads fearing it would reek of favoritism. And oddly enough, my brother played my brother. NO, QM, I hadn't forgotten).
This production was made up entirely of teenagers. Did directed, Zann co-directed, we costumed, ran lights & sounds, advertised, you name it. But we were required by the local Arts Guild (where we were preforming) to have an adult present at all meetings. Our adult sponsor was a wonderful woman named Della. She had 3 young children (and by the end of our production, one more on the way) and was best friends with my boyfriend's mother. We all loved her. She was one of those rare adults who still remembered how hard it was to be a teen. She listened to our dramas and took interest. She laughed at us & with us, reigned us in when needed, and gave us the support we were hunting for.
Snapping beans always makes me think of Della. There's a scene in Our Town where Emily & Mrs.Webb are sitting after school snapping beans & discussing life. Since the play is done entirely in pantomime, we had to know how to look like we were snapping beans without actually having beans on hand. Della brought a few gallons of beans to rehersal & my girlfriend & I snapped away while running lines. We learned our pantomime, Della got her beans snapped.
I know I snapped beans before that, and I know I've snapped them since, but every time someone sets me down with a pan of beans I'm immediately sitting in that cold aluminum folding chair under stage lights struggling to remember my lines & break beans in equal sizes all over again. That was a hard summer in many ways (breaking up, growing up, leaving home) but that one bit, that time spent on stage, was a sweet escape.
4 comments:
Did you forget that Bubba was a cast member?
I know Did really wanted him in the play. Her people called his people before anyone else was picked.
You know that you practiced for that part your whole life. Every time you went to a mirror to watch yourself cry.
Josh's family is from the south, so I understand the "tarred" thing all too well. Unfortunately, my sister-in-law's inlaws, who are from Canada, do not understand the "tarred" thing. After meeting Josh's grandparents several times, my sil's mother-in-law finally asked very seriously (in her Canadian accent), "I've been wondering aboot your grandmother, ey. Does she have a self confidence problem? Everytime I ask her how she is she tells me she is a retard."
Obviously Memaw's famous line of, "I'm jus' a tarred" got lost in the Canadian translation. Your post had me cracking up as I remembered this funny family moment. I'm sure Inkling has similar stories.
Hey if you need canning jars LET ME KNOW. I can meet you at the town between our towns with the big Wal-mart :) LOL!
I have at least 12-24 you can have. I will be glad to get them out of the garage. We are STIll eating Salsa that I made 2 years ago. Granted I canned 40 jars of sweet and hot salsa.
you know I'm familiar with the "tarred" pronunciation. I remember when my grandfather retired from the chemical company.. someone walked in and told him "congratulations, grandaddy, you retarred" - it seemed really funny at the time. Now it's just silly. But hey I was six or seven at the time.
It's really interesting how different people can view the same event. I remember that being a tough summer too but for different reasons. I had forgotten the beans. I remember Did (I think) introducing me to a seafood sub from Subway that summer... which is still my favorite. I remember how difficult it was to get everyone to focus. I remember my own little personal fiascos, break-up and attempts at rebellion. I remember having to block out the scenes to begin with at Did's church because the Arts Guild was booked or we couldn't get ahold of Della.. can't remember what it was.. just remember we couldn't get on stage at first. But I had completely forgotten the beans until you mentioned it.
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