Wicked

It has been a wickedly busy week.  First, my chemo treatment on Monday, which leaves me operating at about 40% of capacity.  When I have my treatment, I am sent home with a traveling pump that administers the drug every 90 seconds for 46 hours.  Sleeping with it is an issue as I am constantly worried that I will accidentally get the tubing hung on something and yank it out of the port on my chest where the pump is connected, so I don't sleep well.  So far, I haven't had a problem, just another one of those things that run around in my mind stirring up trouble.

But a chemo treatment and traveling pump didn't stop me from going to a play Tuesday night.  Yes, I went to see Wicked in Durham at the DPAC (Durham Performing Arts Center).  It was my first time there and it was wonderful.  But even more wonderful, were the friends that gifted me with a ticket, picked me up and delivered me back home safe and sound.  Not sure who was actually responsible as no one would take credit, but it was an awesome thing to do and really warmed my heart.

If you haven't seen it or read it, the play is about what happened before the Wizard of Oz, where all the 'stuff' came from.  Don't think I will ever watch Wiz of Oz the same way now.

When I was a little girl, The Wizard of Oz came on once a year, it was a BIG event at my house.  My mother always made cookies and we sat down as a family to watch it.  No color TV, no DVR, no Netflix or Blockbuster, if you missed it, then it was another year before you had the chance to see it again.  My how times have changed.  But one thing hasn't changed, those darn flying monkeys still scare me.  Don't know what is about them, maybe the vision of them plucking up poor little Toto, or dive bombing Dorothy, but they really, really, scared me when I was a little girl.  Given the frightening things on TV now, flying monkeys are pretty tame, but for me, those flying monkeys were like devils.

But, in this play, they didn't frighten me.  Maybe I have other "flying monkeys" in my life now that are much more frightening than anything on stage.  Or, maybe I have gotten older and more hardened to the harsh realities of life.  I'm just not sure.  All I can say is, the flying monkeys were actually sort of cute.  And I even liked the wicked witch.

What a great night.  Can I ever say thank you enough?  Probably not.  But it was a grand night with good friends who feel more like family and made sure it was a night I would remember.

So, fly on you little winged monkeys, maybe I just never understood you before.  Just didn't know where your wagon had been.  Now I do.

PCQ