The Holiday Letter That Never Made it to the Post Office

Dear Friends –

So, I decided to take a crack at writing one of these end-of-the-year, catching-up-with-Margie-&-Alan kind of letters. 

Looking at this blank page makes me tired.  Is it 2013 already?!  Where did 2012 go?!  I swear, I was just getting used to it hanging around and it up and leaves me.  Story of my life.

Actually, in the past when I’ve thought about writing one of these letters, I always wanted to write a complete work of fiction, filling the page with unusual adventures – “After a week’s absence back in October, I finally tracked Alan down in Columbus, where he was going by the name of ‘The Hammer’ and living in a house full of sorority girls.  He’s back home now, and we’re working things out” or “The past summer is a blur – particularly July.  I hitch-hiked down to Nogales and got arrested trying to cross back into the States with over $500 worth of Chic-lets and terra-cotta tiles.  The cute little Mexican baby in my back-pack didn’t help matters any.”

I almost feel like just leaving this letter at that.

But I won’t, because that would sort of defeat the purpose of the whole thing.

So, where to begin?  We don’t have kids, so I can’t tell you about all of their first words or first steps or funny things they said or all the awards and honors they got in school. I can’t brag about my grandbabies. But I can tell you about our cat, Sundance – 18 and a half years old and still going strong!  Or our hamster, Peanut Houdini, who makes me smile every day simply by being a hamster.

I can tell you that I really like my job teaching theatre (acting, voice & movement, directing, etc.) at OSU-Lima.  That, though Lima isn’t exactly my idea of heaven, I like the campus and my colleagues and the students.  And that, when I look around, I see nothing but potential everywhere.  I directed my first musical, “Company”, last spring, and was really proud of the cast and crew and the whole production.  I directed “The Jungle Book” this past fall, which was lots of fun – about 2000 kids saw the production, and it was fun to hear them talk about the show as they left.  I haven’t acted in a few years now, which feels a little strange, since for about 20 years, I acted a lot.  Right now, I’m o.k with not being on stage for a bit.  I imagine I’ll get back into again at some point.  Maybe when I get through menopause. (you think I’m kidding?)

Alan did two shows in Columbus this past fall (and no, he didn’t stay in a house full of sorority girls – he stayed with his mom in Lancaster, OH.  At least, that’s the story he told me).  He was in a one-act festival of new plays (which I didn’t get to see) and in a fine production of “To Kill a Mockingbird”, where he played Bob Ewell, the nasty racist.  Alan really relishes those bad-guy roles. 

I can also tell you that, for the first time in my life, I volunteered to work for a political campaign. I probably don’t have to tell you for which candidate. At first, I mostly did data entry – “phone banking” is not my thing (hell, I don’t even call YOU people, and you’re my friends).  Eventually, though, as we got closer to the election, I started canvassing, and it was a really wonderful experience.  You know, when you’re standing on someone’s front porch, neighbor to neighbor, political differences don’t seem to be that big of a deal.  “You’re leaning towards Romney?  O.K, I respect that.  I’ll make sure we take you off our list so we don’t bother you again.  Thanks so much for your time!”  People were almost always nice, even if they were not Obama supporters.  (In reality, very few people I talked to were excited about Romney – some just said “Well, I don’t really care for him that much, but he’s better than Obama”.)  But, this is a holiday letter, so no more politics here.  I’ll only say that it was nice to be even a small part of something so big and so important, and to feel like maybe I helped make a small difference.

Alan and I also started volunteering at the local Humane Society.  We are lucky that 1.) we’re renters and 2.) Sundance hates all other cats and dogs, otherwise we’d probably have a house full of animals.  I “virtually adopted” two cats at the shelter – Bob, who is a tail-less, 8 year old orange tabby who had spent his entire life at the shelter, and Keller, a one-eyed tabby kitten (she had arrived at the shelter completely malnourished, full of fleas, and with infected eyes – they could only save one eye). Both of these cats actually got adopted weeks later!  My latest “adoptions” are Trey, a chubby, black, cross-eyed cat with a beat-up ear, and Terra, a grey tabby with stubby little legs.  I’m hoping the lucky streak will continue, and these two will find homes before long.

What else to tell you?  Oh, we did a little traveling this summer and went to visit friends back east in Pennsylvania and Baltimore (a big shout out to Vicki, David, Abraham, Lisa, JP, Liz, Hannah & Dara, Holly, Joseph, Corey, & Catherine!  Hope I didn’t forget anyone…).  We made a quick little stop in NYC, where we saw “One Man, Two Guv’nors” and “Peter and the Starcatcher” – both excellent productions (though we actually missed the first half hour of “Peter” – since when do Broadway shows start at 7pm?!  Lesson learned – always look closely at your tickets).  We also made a St. Louis trip to visit family and friends, which is always a good time.

Oh – here’s a cool thing!  The Ohio State University has, in the past few years, forged a relationship with The Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon.  The RSC has a program called “Stand Up for Shakespeare”, which is geared towards teaching teachers how to get their students excited about Shakespeare.  This program is geared mainly towards primary and middle school teachers, but the work is applicable for students at any level.  A few years back, the RSC came to OSU in Columbus to get the program started here in the states.  A new cohort was formed this year, and I’m part of it!  What does that mean?  It means that I just went to a two day training intensive in Columbus in November, I’ll go for another training intensive in February, and then this summer, we’ll all journey to Stratford-Upon-Avon for a full-week training intensive. I’m so excited I could just spit!  I could go on and on and talk more about this, but I won’t for now.  This letter is long enough!

So there.  There’s probably more I could tell you, but I need to get off the computer and make some cookies or wrap some presents, or watch a few more episodes of “Breaking Bad” (nothing says “Christmas” like watching two guys ruin their lives by cooking/selling meth). 

The last thing I will tell you is that I am so grateful to know you.  I’m not very good about calling people, I know, and for those of you who are phone folks, I apologize. But you can always find me on facebook, or through email.  Let’s hope our paths cross again soon.  Until then, warmest wishes for a Merry Christmas (sorry I missed Hanukkah!), and here’s to a new year filled with peace, love, friendship and good health. 

Mucho love to all --

P.S  Please forgive grammatical/punctuation errors -- it's Christmas! (and I wrote it in a hurry -- just like most student papers :)  )