Lost in Yonkers

For those of you tracking my busy-ness, we’ve just closed a major chapter.

Pants.JPGI direct the play at school every year – this is my third. We did *[Lost in Yonkers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_In_Yonkers)* by [Neil Simon](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Simon) this year and the show ran last week, Wednesday and Thursday.

There were eight weeks between our first rehearsal and our opening night, and that is not very much time. The show has a cast of seven and, let me tell you, they worked like slaves for most of that time. When we do difficult, long-term projects, we (or I, anyway) tend to focus on the negatives, on the problems, on the things that need fixing, and not on the stuff that’s working. It’s only once things are over and done with that we can sit and look back over the entire process to see what went right.

Let me tell you, this one went right. These seven students (and about six technicians) produced a superior show, one that I was proud to be associated with. Our audiences are always kind, but, this year, we blew them away. The play is usually the highlight off the school year for me, personally, and I’m still feeling the good vibes from this one.

Of course, there’s about three weeks of work sitting on my desk, since I didn’t do much during the week before, during and after the play. But, I’m ignoring that part. 🙂

Life goes on…

I haven’t posted anything since March 9 and haven’t written since the day of Gedaliah’s bris. Wow… talk about a drought. Truth be told, I’ve been busy. *Really* busy.

Kids watching clownFirst things first: The kids are darn cute. As Judi wrote, Purim has happened recently and, as part of the festivities, we went to a Purim Seudah here in KC. At the end of the evening, a clown performed for the children who was fantastic. I’ve done some clowning, and I know how hard it can be and, let me tell you, this guy was talented. The proof, as they say, is in the pudding; ignore the red-eye and take a look at the reaction he got from my kids in this photo.

What else has been happening. Well, mostly, the play. In addition to my teaching duties, I direct the High School play at school. This year, we produced *Lost in Yonkers*, by Neil Simon, and the performances took place this past Wednesday and Thursday nights. I’m not exactly unbiased, since I’m a little too close to things to be impartial, but I think that the students did a bang-up job and the audience response was totally positive. We impressed our audiences for the third straight year which, when you think about it, is pretty remarkable, expecially if you know that we had only eight weeks between our first rehearsal and our opening night.

So, that kept me pretty busy. I’ve also been trying to keep up with school, the newspaper and this year’s yearbook, as well as our school’s once-every-seven-years accredidation process and the fact that we had a baby. That’s a lot to heap onto once plate, so you’ll understand why blogging has slid down the list of priorities a bit.

The kids are great and, as expected, Gedaliah is as cute as a button. This coming Tuesday is his one-month-day and he is already responding to visual and auditory stimuli and has, thank-God, been sleeping through the night since he and Judi came home from the hospital. He eats nicely, poops nicely and is generally good natured so we’ve got nothing to complain about… and lots and lots to be thankful for.

Life goes on…

Everyone looked at me funny when I walked into school today.

They seemed to think that I should have stayed at the hospital with Judi as opposed to coming in to teach. Last night, Judi and I talked about this very issue, and we came to the conclusion that there really isn’t much for me to do at the hospital, so I came in.

You see, life goes on. There is laundry to fold, dishes to wash and three other kids to take care of. Plus, it’s not like there’s much for me to do at the hospital, anyway. Judi is working the phones, announcing the news and preparing for the *bris*, finding a caterer, etc… I spent most of yesterday closing the door of her room when people left and answering the phone so she could rest. By this morning, she was rested, so she didn’t need me anymore.

As a matter of fact, her staying at the hospital is a sort of vacation. They cook for her, wash the dishes, change her sheets… they even take care of the baby when she is in pain or too tired. So here I am, working today, while she sits at the hospital eating bon-bons and watching her soaps. 😉