Boasting Rights

Since I can't bring myself to write anything having to do with my own life (things are too sloppy right now - in life, work, and heart matters) I am going to turn my gaze beyond my own little world and promote the satellites in my little universe.

Two of the most important men in my life have gotten good press this week.

My dear friend B has a profile in a Delaware paper about a show he is doing there. The interview is a trip - I wish I could see the cover that they are talking about in the sidebar questions. If anyone lives in Wilmington and has a copy, please send it my way.

I've written about B before. He was my Delaware beach hook up a few weeks ago, and has been a constant presence in my life for the past, geesh, thirteen years. I love him dearly and wish him nothing but success and happiness - he is an actor - someone who you meet and have trouble imagining doing anything else. His mind is sharp and vast, his interests run the gamut, and yet - he was born to grace the stage. I have no doubts about that.

He is also one of those friends who - if you ever take a moment to try and imagine a life without the person - you find that it is simply not possible. My memory bank is too heavily loaded with his image. He has shaped me now. There is no turning back.

And my brother A was just nominated for a Jeff Award for his work at the Northlight Theater in Chicago. The Jeff awards are Chicago's equilavalent of the Tony Awards in NY, or the Helen Hayes Awards here in DC.

I am sad to say I did not get to see the show that A was nominated for. But I am proud as a sister can be, and sure that the work was intelligent and sensitive.

In a weird stroke of fate, A and B actually met months before I ever laid eyes on B. It's a funny story to look back on. Both were final-finalists in the National ARTS competition (an arts competition for highschool students) so they actually hung out together in Florida during final rounds. When I met B during my first week as a student at University of Michigan (and literally, within minutes, I was smitten with the guy - it is impossible not to fall for his intensity and curls) he mentioned that he'd been there. It came up randomly, I don't remember why. I told him my brother A had also been there, and asked if they'd crossed paths. He dug out pictures of them in one of the finalists hotel rooms, eating pizza, I think.

The world is very small.

These things happen and they shape our lives forever. Chance meetings, random connections. When somehow the world knows exactly what you need (a friend, a love, a crush, a teacher, a mentor, a pal) and puts that into your rotation.

It is our job, I think, to recognize what is there in front of us.

I cannot help but wonder if for every chance grabbed, every gift recognized, I have passed over others because my gaze was focused downward, my ego centered inward, my mood shy or reluctant or simply because I was too exhausted to make an effort.

We can never tell.

I, for one, am thankful for the gifts I have been open and ready to receive.