Today I went to breakfast alone, took an hour walk, danced for an hour, and wrote for an hour. At the advice of a fellow classmate, I did something fun that I would not ordinarily do, I sang out loud while I was walking and listening to my ipod. My husband said, “You’re lucky you didn’t get locked up!”  Well, a police car did circle the block a few times.  I smiled and waved, so he would know I wasn’t a threat.  Not that I look threatening, but you know…I don’t exactly look like Mary Poppins either.

Of course I took a few photos.  It keeps my blog a bit more interesting.  I call these my Shadow Shots:

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Open call Auditions for Motown, The Musical! 

When: Tomorrow, Sept. 13!
Where: Lunt-Fontanne Theatre 205 W. 46th Street (bet. 8th & Broadway)
Time: 11am-2pm (sign in starts at 10am)
Who: African-American men and women, ages 20-40 who can SING AND DANCE Also seeking African-American boys ages 8-13 to play young Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, and Barry Gordy 

Can’t make the Open Call? Submit a video audition! For more info on how to submit a video audition, Google Motown The Musical

After helping our daughter move back into her dorm at Princeton, my husband and I took our moms to see Motown in Manhattan, NY.  Our grateful mothers were dancing in their seats.  Before the show, we had dinner at Planet Hollywood, which I highly recommend.  There is never more than a five minute wait, and the food is so so good.  Oh, and the bathrooms are spotless ; )   Bathrooms matter.  Here are a few photos from our day.  If I find some time later in the week, I will add more to this post.  I have much more I would like to share with you, but since we got in at 2 a.m., I can’t seem to find the energy.  So, if you are interested, check this post out later ; )

Our day started at 6:30 a.m. We purchased a few things to get her through the first semester of her senior year.

Yes, this is her last year at Princeton!

I hope you weren’t expecting a glamour shot first thing in the morning.  My daughter will probably get me for posting this one : )

Sleepwalking.  Yet, this is proof that I do help.

And later…that same day…

My mother and mother-in-law at Planet Hollywood

I am not a night owl.  The wall is holding me up.

I will have to add more to this later.  Motown was so spectacular that I need a nap and a few days to go by before I can write about it.  I would not do it any justice if i wrote about it now.  Until then, blessings!

The Show

     The lights came up. The first musical note made me want to hop out of my chair.  My eyes lit up like a child’s does at Disney World when her favorite character comes over to shake her hand.  I was in my element!  If I could see a Broadway play everyday, I would. Nostalgia was the word of the evening.  The music and the memories danced together. Sometimes they just collided like awkward preteens slowing dragging for the first time.  The collision was a result of a rough memory.  For example, if the song, My Girl, reminded someone of their first and last love, that would surely cause a mental collision.  Other songs reminded us of loved ones who had passed on.  When a man bopped across the stage to a song I no longer remember now, dragging one leg behind him, I thought of my father.  With it came both wet eyes and a smile.  Other songs made me think of my mother with an afro with her hands on her hips, posing for a camera as I smiled admiring her beauty.  She was my god then, perfect in my eyes.  I guess it is how any small child views a good mother who gives parenting her all.

     Speaking of giving it all, the Motown cast was magnificent!  They made you forget it was the 21st century.  When they sang, you were in the 60s, 70s, and 80s.  They went there briefly and took you with them.  I didn’t feel anyone in the audience was left behind.  We were all there together with The Temptations, Supremes, and the Jackson Five.  For a moment, we forgot everything we would have to remember as soon as we got back home.

To be continued…