Should Old Acquaintance Be Forgot
About a month ago I remember seeing within the span of two days about five people around the city that I "used to know." A guy I used to chat and flirt with at the gym, the best friend of an old boyfriend, a guy I had a crush on from a therapy group I was in (yes, group therapy). Five people in two days that I hadn't seen in years. In a city like New York what are the odds of that? It's weird. I passed them on a subway platform or on the street and recognized them. You can never be sure in situations like that if they recognize you, too, and stopping them on the street and having to explain the connection if they don't might be awkward and time consuming. None of them were close friends but yet I knew intimate details of their lives, their relationships, their fears and troubles and in some cases I had even been in their home at one time or another. But the opportunity to reconnect was lost simply because I was in a hurry and it's easier and safer to pretend not to see or to recognize. And so with the change of a traffic light or the closing of a subway door they slipped back into the city of strangers--our paths perhaps never to cross again.So, five people in two days. You have to wonder what the universe is trying to tell you when something like that happens. I tried to piece together what any of these people had in common--if anything. And the only conclusion I could come to is that they all represent a two or three year period of my life when my theatre career started to take off. I was getting work and feeling good about what I was doing. But as often happens with actors, I "left the business" for more secure endeavors or ones that wouldn't keep taking me away from home and the people I love for months at a time. These chance encounters happened at just about the time I started taking steps to get my graduate school applications in order. I'm going back for my MFA in Acting. I'm going back to theatre. While there was no dramatic moment of epiphany, I drew this conclusion as a gentle sign from the universe that yes, I'm moving in the right direction. I was there and I can be again.
Whew! That feels good.
Happy New Year, everybody.
Labels: Only In New York, Personal
posted by Michael @ 11:58 AM
4 Comments:
Yeah, I totally know what you mean. It's weird.
Way to go, Michael. It's so exciting that you would take the opportunity to jump into grad school to pursue that MFA in acting.
New beginnings, bubba! Grab 'em every time.
I can't wait to see you in something, even if it isn't porn.
Glad to hear you're jumping back into the fray with both feet. I too have learned the value of seeing things all the way through. Hope it works out for you. I'm doing a little of that myself - trying to write a play and some fiction stuff. But this time I have to see it through to the end, even if some local storefront theater producer uses it for scratch paper.
Oh the places you'll go. You'll move mountains! - can you tell I have been reading too many children's books...LOL.
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