Monday, November 17, 2008
My Adventures in Falwell/Liberty University Land
Well...it's been a long time since writing.....odd, since writing is and has been such an important part of my life since I was 15 years old...but my life is not a free one these days...I work , it feels like , all the time and I am also constricted from writing freely of my life for many important reasons...suffice it to say: I plan to write huge amounts one day ...and when I absolutely need to write, now I will...and , as you see, I do...it's just that time gets away from me because of the concerns of our current life, but every so often, something does happen that forces me to stop (even if it is at 1:18 A.M. as it is right now) and ...well...talk about it in this form...and because I have gotten really used to typing everything out on a computer key board, my hand-written journals are suffering from a bit of neglect...but, I'll be remedying that too...in the not-too-distant future...and ,actually, I have been writing a bit in those journals as well...I love the sheer release of that...the feel of it.
I spent this last weekend as a judge at a regional High School theatre contest, several hours away in Gladys/Naruna ,Virginia...and, as ever, I was deeply moved and impressed by the sheer dedication of teachers and their wonderful students who love theater.
The need to do the work I have dedicated my entire life to doing...this need exists all over the place! In the weirdest, out-of-the-way places...and young people, filled with this need....to become actors, to get up in front of people and give of themselves in such a brave way...kids are filled with this odd and compelling urgency to do it, EVERYWHERE I go!!
So, there I was, as part of my Outreach initiative, my job, driving through the foggy dark night, 3 hours from home...three and a half...and, of course, because I am a dope with directions, no matter how clearly they are written...of course: I GOT LOST because I took the wrong turn! So before I knew it, I was totally in a bewildered state of mild despair as i looked at the road marker that said JERRY FALWELL HIGHWAY...I knew I wasn't in my particular Kansas anymore!
In fact, seeing this man's name on a road sign, as if marking the way to Heaven, made me laugh out loud...surely not....JERYY FALWELL HIGHWAY??? Yep...I was lost on it and my planned travel time to my Alta Vista,Virginia destination kept getting longer and longer...AND THEN...
A huge lighted area loomed before me, and sure of some help within, I drove toward it...heading for the light...please...the images of salvation are only natural here...since I was feeling drearily lost.
And - BOOM!!- suddenly I was firmly entrenched in the middle (I can only assume it was the middle it seemed so vast) of the campus of Fallwell's Liberty University! Acres and acres of young Christians, and not a helping hand in sight! Because they were all busily engaged in walking or jogging places, it was dark out and there were no gas stations to ask directions at!!!
Truly, every road I turned onto was more bewildering than the one I had just been on...the campus made no sense to me (do other peoples' campi ever make sense?) and the only thing I felt tentatively sure of was that I was driving around in larger and larger circles!! It was pretty sad and depressing....
FINALLY, somehow, the knot of my panic loosened and I got out of that brightly lit scary place - it seemed like a fever dream - and managed my way back onto a main highway (Jerry's again!) and eventually - and I do mean eventually (don't these people ever need gas???) found a Shell station.
I swear to God, the people there looked at me like I was some sort of idiot for not knowing where I was....they were barely helpful (I felt more and more like weeping and may have leaked a tear or two, in fact) and trekking backward whence I had come (I did NOT turn back into Liberty U!) I found the Alta Vista exit on 29 South and - rolled into the Holiday Inn parking lot an hour and a half later than planned.
More on the drama festival in a later entry...suffice it to say that a violent stomach virus attacked me mid-Festival (honestly...maybe I should have stayed at Liberty after all and let the angels take me away!), and the rest is a tale to tell....but I did make it home to Peter on Sunday and am still recuperating from the Road to Heaven mis-adventure!
I think "My Own Particular Kansas" is a good title for my biography, don't you?
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