Riding the Waves of Change

I couldn't sleep. 3 o'clock in the morning and my mind was churning around a multitude of thoughts varying from the ever present To Do List, my health, my kids… I know life is constantly in transition, but sometimes its evidence is overwhelming. Having just turned 50, I feel like my life has crested into a beautiful wave upon which I can ride out in splendid style or crash spectacularly with salt up my nose and sand in my pants. I’ve had 50 years to learn a multitude of lessons and now more than ever, I need to put them into practice so I can ride my wave. Right now my wave consists of helping my son transition to a new school.

Lesson 1: Accept Change. Change happens with or without us buying into its reality. Life keeps changing and how successful we are at life depends on our being able to recognize the constant need to let go and readjust to the new challenges being presented. This year my son, Alex, will start 4^th grade at a brand new school. He’ll be meeting a whole new group of classmates, learn the lay of the land of the new campus and will be immersed in a completely different curriculum philosophy. And you know what? He’s going to do great because he’s accepted and embraced this change.

We’ve been talking about his upcoming new school experience for months now. We’ve discussed meeting new friends, the new campus, the classrooms, the social circles. We’ve walked the campus, found his classroom, library and checked out the playground. Alex even spent a couple of days at the school summer day camp program so he could meet new friends before the first day of school He also picked out his favorite backpack months in advance, which is now being filled with back to school supplies and binders. All very important stuff.

Lesson 2: Surround yourself supportive people. Alex will be meeting lots of new people in the next few weeks. I’ve shared stories from my childhood about making friends and he’ll be on the lookout for kids of quality. You know, the ones who are genuinely kind, don’t gossip and won’t betray a friendship. They won’t stand out in a crowd like the “popular kids”, so some searching will have to take place to find those best buddies. Good friends are a treasure worth searching for. I’ll be there for him, too. Not a helicopter mom hovering over him, but the kind of mom who’s available to talk about whatever’s on his mind, and who can sense when the silence might need to be nudged into a heart to heart conversation about the daily struggles of elementary school life.

Lesson 3: Then there’s that element of control. During a change, welcomed or not, we tend to focus on how we can control the situation. However, often times, the only thing we really control is what we’re thinking about the change. The person who has developed a flexible attitude about change seems to get through life a little easier.

So, we’re going to ride the wave of change and enjoy the thrill. It may be a bit hairy while the ride’s going full speed, but we’ll be able to look back on this new phase of life and say, “Whoa! That was so cool!”

BlogCrush Meet Up at OC Great Park

Remember when you were a kid and how easy it was to make friends? You see a new kid, you run up and say, “Hey, let’s go check out that (insert kid thing here)!!” then suddenly you’ve got a BF/explorer buddy. It doesn’t work that way for adults. Making friends can be hard… unless you’re a Blog Crush blogger.

BlogCrush is a rapidly growing group of OC bloggers (founded by @Suzbroughton and @marcymassura) who meet up several times a year to socialize, sample food, test products and experience much of what our lovely Orange County has to offer. Then we blog about it, making friends while doing it all. Serious fun.

The most recent event was hosted by OC Great Park and Razor. Kids tested Razor’s latest products: Bogo, Graffiti, and my son’s favorite: the eSpark electric scooter, which is now top on his wish list for Christmas. Talk about sparks flying! He’s actually dreaming about his future scooter.

Remember how I mentioned kids making friends so easily? The BlogCrush kids formed an instant pack as they rode throughout the park on a scavenger hunt, chasing down clues to win the hottest razor products.

While the kids rode the park scavenging for scooter booty, Boyfriend Bob and I toured the new art gallary featuring an eclectic display of oil paintings and whimsical sculptures.

Bob loves all things aeronautical and I happen to fancy Luis Vuitton, so this art show spoke to both our hearts. ;-)

We all gave this family event a big thumbs up.  Good friends, good fun provided by Blog Crush, Razor and the OC Great Park made it a perfect OC summer evening....didn’t even need a sweater.

Talent Rains at South Coast Rep

Have you ever found your parent's journal? Would it be an amazing discovery to learn the secret thoughts and events that carved a youthful life path or would you avoid the past and all its familial pain? In South Coast Repertory’s production of Richard Greenberg’s “Three Days of Rain," director David Emmes and three engaging actors deliver a beautifully shaded interpretation of Greenberg's script about how easily the past can be misinterpreted and how skewed our perceptions of our parents can sometimes be. Three actors. Six characters. One secret.

The story begins in the mid-90s. A famous architect has died and his son, Walker, has stumbled on the abandoned loft in Manhattan where the practice was forged. Here Walker, effervescent but weighed down by desolation and instability, takes a short solo voyage into his family’s disturbed past, until interrupted by his more emotionally grounded sister Nan. Walker and Nan gather with their childhood friend, Pip, for the reading of their father’s will. The three become embroiled in a struggle over what their parents left them and why. The audience is taken back thirty five years in the second act, to the time just before these characters were conceived to illustrate just how far off assumptions can be. The actors take on the roles of their former characters' parents, playing out another triangle in the same New York loft.

 

Kevin Rahm as the emotionally precarious Walker gives a touching rendition of a person struggling to come to terms with himself and his psyche. Rahm’s talent comes to full fruition with his Act Two portrayal of Ned, a young stuttering and shy architect who realizes the full scope of his passion for both his business partner’s lover and architecture.

Susannah Schulman as Walker’s older sister Nan, delivers a beautifully laced performance delicately balancing her contentment with marriage and motherhood with the agitation she feels towards being abandoned by her brother. In Act Two, Schulman’s portrayal of Lina, the Southern belle, masterfully displays an intoxicating female bravado meant to mask the despair lying just under the wit, and reveals the tenderness behind her polished feminine facade.

While Nan and Walker are like grounded skydivers dragging their childhoods behind them, Pip sails along with a happy go lucky countenance. Deftly played by Brendan Hines, he's able to enjoy life. Hine’s role as Pip's father, Theo, is ironically more complex but less developed, seemingly there only to spur Lina and Ned through the plotline.

There is a seventh character. The loft, created by set designer, Thomas Buderwitz, is the place where all the drama unfolds. As they say, “If walls could talk…” Buderwitz’s walls do, with the steamed-up windows whispering the secrets of decades past. The rain on the loft windows is set design at its best; however the storm showers outside the loft front door were too distracting, as the mechanics were visible and drew attention away from the unfolding story. Sometimes characters upstage their counterparts and that’s never a good thing. Like a perfume, a set should not overpower the actors, but enhance.

The clear and honest acting and directing brings the story to shimmering light, presenting subtly shifting moods, changing as the weather does, allowing the audience to bask in the play’s haunting exploration of love, infidelity, inheritance and the way those in the present can so easily misinterpret the past.

Three Days of Rain, Richard Greenberg’s Pulitzer Prize-nominated play about two generations of intertwined families, returns to South Coast Repertory May 13-June 12. 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Wednesdays, 8 p.m. Thursdays-Fridays, 2:30 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Sundays. Ends June 12. (Call for exceptions.) $28-$66. (714) 708-5555 www.scr.org Photos by Henry DiRocco.

The Child Life Room at CHOC Children's Hospital

This morning my son and I went to the Home Depot Kids Workshop where, on the first Saturday morning of each month, kids get to build a wooden project for free. It’s a perfect hands-on project where kids learn how to use hammer, nails, glue and a bit of patience to create their very own masterpiece. Today’s project: a tulip planter to give mom on Mother’s Day. The workshops teach children do-it-yourself skills and tool safety, while at the same time helping to instill a sense of accomplishment. It’s a great way to start your weekend with your child. Get there early, as projects always go fast!

In addition to the project kit, each child receives a kid-sized orange apron and an achievement pin. If you look closely, you’ll see Alex has on several pins from his past projects. Wanna know the best part of the morning? Remembering all our mother-son wood working adventures we’ve had over the years while driving home. Thank you, Alex, for a wonderful Mother's Day gift and another perfect memory.

 

Building Memories at the Home Depot

This morning my son and I went to the Home Depot Kids Workshop where, on the first Saturday morning of each month, kids get to build a wooden project for free. It’s a perfect hands-on project where kids learn how to use hammer, nails, glue and a bit of patience to create their very own masterpiece. Today’s project: a tulip planter to give mom on Mother’s Day. The workshops teach children do-it-yourself skills and tool safety, while at the same time helping to instill a sense of accomplishment. It’s a great way to start your weekend with your child. Get there early, as projects always go fast!

In addition to the project kit, each child receives a kid-sized orange apron and an achievement pin. If you look closely, you’ll see Alex has on several pins from his past projects. Wanna know the best part of the morning? Remembering all our mother-son wood working adventures we’ve had over the years while driving home. Thank you, Alex, for a wonderful Mother's Day gift and another perfect memory.

 

The Wedding Weekend is all Queued Up

The Wedding Weekend disc arrived in the mail via Netflix today. This movie has never received the promotion it deserves. It won awards at film festivals, was shopped around with several different titles but never got the public's attention.

Great cast, nice premise. And now that Glee's a capella group, The Warblers, is gaining momentum, this comedy is ready to be seen and accepted by the masses.

Put it in your queue and thank me later.

Cookie the Penguin Gives and Gets a Giggle

Little Cookie the penguin has the sweetest giggle and made me giggle all night long. so cute!