This will be a very busy week, in preparation for ten very lazy days. Our friends Griff and Carol are more proof (if anyone needs it) that God is good, because we could never deserve what they have offered us: ten days on their sailboat in the British Virgin Islands! They are flying down on Friday, and will pick us up at the airport on Saturday in time for lunch. We can walk from the airport to the dock! I’ve got a lot of details to take care of before 4 a.m. Saturday, when we leave for JFK. But after that, well…Carol and Griff and Serge are all experienced sailors, and I’m not, so all I’ll have to do is take directions! Sounds heavenly. We can only take one carry-on, and I’m trying to decide what books to bring along. I am anticipating some media withdrawal symptoms, however, since we’ll be gone the last ten days before the election. (Back in time to vote!)
We have been blessed to see live theater performances three times since Labor Day: “The Fantasticks” on Broadway in September, “Passion Play” by Sarah Ruhl at Yale Rep a few weeks later, and yesterday “Equus,” on Broadway. From the official website:
Equus, written by Peter Shaffer, the Tony Award winning author of Amadeus, is the powerful and provocative story of a stable boy and a psychiatrist who seek to understand the sexual and religious mystery which leads to a climactic and unbelievable event. Daniel Radcliffe, the young international star of the popular Harry Potter films, plays the stable boy. Richard Griffiths, who plays the psychiatrist, was last seen on Broadway in The History Boys for which he won a Tony Award.
The tickets were an ordination gift from our friends Ed and Phil, who went with us and then spent the early evening discussing the play over dinner. It certainly gave us a lot to talk about! The intersection of psychology and religion is a powerful and frightening place. Toward the end of the play, the psychiatrist says, “Ultimately, I don’t know what I’m doing, and yet I do ultimate things. I do essential things, and essentially I don’t know what I’m doing.” (Any mistakes in this quote are entirely due to my faulty memory.)
As we were walking out of the theater, I was thinking how easy it is to lose my sense of awe at the power of religion—which is related to, but not nearly the same thing as, the power of God. As an official representative of religion, I’m someone who plans the liturgies and examines the scriptures and dares to stand up in front of a bunch of people and say what it means. This play reminded me what an awesome responsibility that is, and how very important it is to be as accurate and truthful as I can be.
Serge and I visited with our friend Dick Cuddeback today, and helped him set up a CaringBridge site. If you’re one of Dick’s many friends, stay tuned for more information.
Time to make dinner. I really missed cooking during my chemo months, and I’m enjoying it now. I picked up an organic cauliflower today, and I think it will be the centerpiece of tonight’s meal.
