Effectively it has been a month since I last posted anything, go figure.  It is so strange how sometimes things just fall by the wayside.  Life I suppose can get in the way.  When you work like crazy and then go to your cousin’s Bat Mitzvah on the other side of the country and also try to plan a wedding, well, things get pretty darn busy.  Heck, as usual for the past 5 years, I am sitting in tech on my birthday.

Thankfully, I have a wonderful fiancée and good friends to make a birthday at work more enjoyable.  Whether it is breakfast and lunch from Ruth or a cake from @sunreon or an uglydoll from my favorite stage manager or phone calls from friends who I haven’t heard from in a while, it all is great.  I don’t really count my inbox full of notifications from facebook that people have posted an my wall, mostly because I don’t really spend tons of time on facebook, and because most of the people just post birthday wishes because facebook tells them to.

It is worth mentioning that my cousin actually had the same Torah portion for her Bat Mitzvah as I did.  They wanted me to read some Torah or Haftorah, but the temple wasn’t really so keen on that.  So, my aunt asked them if there was any way that I could participate in the service.  I got to sing at the end of the service with the choir which was actually a lot of fun.  Everyone enjoyed it.

Ruth and I have settled on a date and venue for the wedding.  She is going up tomorrow with her mother to deliver the contract and deposit.  I suppose that means that I should actually read the contract.  There is a lot to do and think about now that we have settled on this information.  We can move forward with invitations and we still need to find some music (ie. a band).  We will have to finalize a menu and what we want for the ceremony.  Lots to do and time just ticking away.  Crazy, fun, exciting.

In knee news, I think that in general it is getting better.  I have more mobility and it really doesn’t hurt as much in normal use.  I am finally starting to walk normally again.  I don’t think that I will actually be doing any skiing this season.  I think that it is probably better this way, to heal and then hopefully be fine to get back on the hill next year.  However, one of my camp friends pointed out that it is a good excuse to be able to park at my cabin this summer at camp.  Hopefully I won’t need to actually use that as an excuse!

Oh, the thinks you can think!

Memory is such an interesting thing.  I am not sure if we really remember all of the events of our lives, I am sure that people study this and there is probably an answer, but, in any event, we can’t recall/retell events long past.  Maybe the ones that had some significance or impact, but not all  things that happened to us.  Even details from only a few days ago are kind of hazy now in my mind.  I could tell you in  broad strokes about the last month, but only specific details here and there.

The other night I was struck by the memory of going to the theatre with my parents.  I did find it ironic at the time that the memory that we so clear was one of theatre experiences, but that is besides the point.  I remember specifically, two shows that we went to see at the Wheelock Family Theatre at Wheelock College in Boston.  I don’t remember what years, I know that I was relatively young and the shows were Peter Pan and Fiddler on the Roof.  I can sort of picture the set for Fiddler in my head a little.  I am sure that is kind of tempered by what I think it should look like or other ways that I have seen it.  I sort of remember seeing Peter Pan fly, though not much else.

Possibly one of the oddest things that I remember about these trips to the theatre is what I remember thinking.  I remember that I used to think that the auditorium was some kind of separate “ship” type thing.  I thought that the audience would go into the theatre and then it would take-off or something, and another auditorium would come in for intermission or the end of the show.  I know, really kinda bizarre, but I really did think that.  I also remember thinking it, which is possibly also kind of amazing.

What is it about memory that brings somethings into clarity sometimes?  How come some things we may never recall again?  I mean, I remember a couple things about the day that my sister was born, but not even close to as clearly as the memory that I talked about above.  I think that most of what I “remember” of my sister’s birthday is based on what I have been told about it, and the photos that I have seen.  In some ways I think that doesn’t really count as my memory.  However, it seems like and event like my sister’s birthday would be more significant than the theatre.

So what makes a memory that lasts and surfaces?  Do you have any memories of odd events that stick out really clearly?

At 5:17AM 26 years ago I was born.  That is pretty cool in and of itself.  My parents were excited, my grandparents were excited, It sounds like it was a pretty good time.  I certainly can’t remember.  I also can’t remember the fact that when my mother got to bring me home from the hospital on February 14, she was bummed out that my father had to be working.  I do remember things like the day my sister was born because it was the day of my fourth birthday party.  I thought that was inconvenient, but My sister turned out OK!   According to my mother today, I turned out good.

It is kind of fun to wake up in the morning to have it snowing.  I like that about having a winter birthday.  Maybe the fact that I was born in the winter has something to do with how much I enjoy the winter.  It is also fun to wake up and have an inbox full of emails and notifications with birthday wishes.  Normally I am not a big fan of Facebook messages, but the fact that people take the time to send a quick note for a birthday is pretty nice.  When you consider the number of “friends” I have on facebook, the fact that even a few take the time to send a birthday note is kinda cool.

As expected, I talked to most of my family today.  Thankfully, my mother waited until after I woke up to call me.  Unfortunately my sister called first, right after I poured myself a bowl of cereal.  I was going to go back to it after I got off the phone with her, but then my mother called.  Needless to say, that bowl of cereal was a little to soggy to eat after two phone calls.  There are worse things of course, but it was a little sad.  It was nice to talk to my sister, I have talked to her more this week than many months on account of her birthday was on the seventh.

I think the only people I didn’t talk to were my grandparents on my mother’s side.  They are in Israel right now, so that is not surprising, but the email they sent was nice to get.  If nothing else, a birthday is a pretty good excuse to check in with the family!

I had a nice dinner with Ruth, though it left my stomach feeling a little funky.  I think I just had a little to much spicy wings…  In any event, I have been feeling better and better.  After the show tonight I am going out with a couple friends from the theatre for a little celebration, and all in all I think it was a pretty good day.  So, thank you to everyone who sent me birthday wishes, hopefully this is the beginning of another good year!

I couldn’t resist scheduling a post to show up right at 5:17 on my birthday. I will write about what kind of a day it was after it happens. I probably need to get to sleep early because my mother likes to call me early in the morning to wish me a happy birthday. Inevitably she will say something like:

Mom: “So you are what, 26 now?”

Me: “Yup.”

Mom: “You are getting old… Wait, that means I am getting old!”

Me: “It happens to the best of us.”

Other than that, it will probably be a pretty normal day. I have to go to work, we have our big preview for Twelve Angry Men. We have some notes to finish up during the day, so I probably won’t even really get to go out for a nice dinner or anything, but we shall see. For the past four years my birthday has fallen during tech of a show, so I am used to it. I will be happy to just be able have dinner with Ruth and then have the weekend off!

I enjoyed the email that I got from my grandparents as a birthday wish:

Dear Alex: We have a big smile on our faces as we did 26 years ago.We visited the Weismans at Maa’le Mich Much a couple of weeks ago. We still enjoy touring and going into the schools. We sometimes miss Winter skiing. Take a run for us and exhale A WHOOPEEE! We hope to see you soon. We love you.What is happening in the life of our BIG BOY? ~Nana and Papa

So, we shall see how things go. It’s another year, I’m gonna try to make the best of it!

More on the day later.