Gonna Wash That Year Right Outta My Hair

The musical, "South Pacific," opened on Broadway in 1949. Seventy years later, in 2019, I saw two productions of it right here in Orange County. One was at my little town's Westminster Community Theater and the other at Irvine Valley College. Both were stellar.  And both reminded me of the passage of time.'

The song that always stands out is "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair." Mary Martin could do that, and so can I. But I'll change the word "man" to "traumas." I had many. 

I was 12 years old when "South Pacific" hit Broadway. The major event for me that year was marching in the annual Santa Claus Lane Parade with the /Carpenterettes, fronting the Cadillac carrying Bob Hope, Grand Marshall. I've written about that event and included the photo of my 12-year-old self here.

Seventy years later, I'm reviewing what I'd expected would develop in my life. And reviewing what I thought how I'd spend it. I'm reflecting on that tonight, seventy years later. 

 One of my favorite novels is Charles Dickens' Great Expectations. Most close followers of Dickens know that the novel had alternative endings The one I favor is? The optimistic one: http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/novel_19c/dickens/ending.html

Wouldn't you?

What still brings me joy? Aside from personal relationships, even now it's been reading, writing, traveling. Last year those goals somehow got shoved to the back of my life's priorities So my resolution this year is to reinstate them. Here's how I'm going about it:

Reading: Right now I'm reading "Churchill & Orwell: The Fight for Freedom," by Thomas E. Ricks. I've got another Cornwell book on the Jack the Ripper murders as next on the list. My Westminster library just notified me that David McCullough's "Pioneers" is waiting for me.

Writing: The first half of the year got swallowed by my Orange County Grand Jury duties...and the second by obligations, expectations, and a series of crises almost beyond belief. I've written before that I never experience "writer's block." But ennui attacked me. I found myself wasting precious hours ruminating about what I "should" have done.  But now...that's over. New year...new me. Starting afresh and welcoming 2020. Since the first of the year I've made six submissions...some rewrites of "orphans," but also a couple of new ones. And one about the Santa Claus Lane Parade. I was twelve when Bob Hope signed my majorette boot. 

Travel: It's set. University of Cambridge International Summer School in late July...this time the history track...The Rise and Fall of Empires and Britain's Prime Ministers, with an additional week to revisit London and the Isle of Wight tucked in there somewhere. And then, at last, in December, Argentina! Buenos Aires! Iguassu Falls! And what will be my FOURTH  total eclipse of the sun in Patagonia.

That's my plan for 2020 and I wanna stick to it. No more time for regrets or for what "might have been." Moving forward. Loving life. Remembering what I came home to Southern Californium for: time with family and old friends...and theaters, movies, museums, beaches, concerts...it's all here and I am blessed to be back where I started from.

Pip and Estella