These past 5 days of beautiful living

June 25, 2014
          Day 56/365

I want to tell you briefly about these past 5 days.  Each of them was marked by enough "special" to warrant their own reflection, but I'd like to just paint the scenes for you as a single collage of life's beauty.

These five days included a Broadway show, a ballet at Lincoln Center, a trip to Connecticut, four meals out in restaurants, two Shamanic journeys, six games of tennis, two movies, new friendships, and lots of wonderful food, drink, and conversation.

FRIDAY: The day began with work, as all weekdays do, but by the evening, I was sipping wine with a friend from Australia in our very own private living room in midtown Manhattan (a hotel bar with nice digs!).  After wine, we sauntered (the stumbling would come later) to Aladdin on Broadway, which was followed right afterward by stage-dooring across the street.  It was Giuseppe Bausilio's 17th birthday, so we joined him after his show (he's one of the amazing Newsies) for some delicious Brazilian food and drink.  And my God, that drink!  I ended up catching a 1:37 AM train back to Long Island, and was grateful to be asleep by 3.

SATURDAY: On Saturday, Andy and I were off to visit our friend Darren in Connecticut.  We got there around 3:30, had some cheese and strawberries he prepared, caught up on each other's lives, then went out for an early dinner sometime after 5.  It was the first day of summer, so our blessing that evening was a delicious feast with equally delicious drinks at an outdoor table.  We followed that up by watching some really great movies back at his house.

SUNDAY: Sunday morning's weather was equally brilliant, so we went out for breakfast at the local diner, then worked off some of our meal with a few games of tennis at Darren's local tennis courts.  The getaway to Connecticut was wonderful, and it was great to catch up with Darren again, as we hadn't seen him in almost a year.  Got home mid-afternoon and took a nice long nap.  Ahh!

MONDAY: The work week returned Monday, but that night's activities included a decadently scrumptious lasagna at Cafe Fiorello, followed by the opening night performance of ABT's Swan Lake at Lincoln Center.  Gillian Murphy and Marcelo Gomes danced as Odette and the prince, with Roman Zhurbin wowing in the role of Rothbart.  Gillian was unfortunately still nursing an injury, and was unable to perform in the second half, but her understudy, Hee Seo, was wonderful.  Before then, I'd only seen the Matthew Bourne Swan Lake, so my friend Suzanne insisted I come and see this one with her.  She was right as always, and I had a wonderful time!

TUESDAY: And then last night, as has been my monthly tradition since last year, I attended a Shamanic Drumming Circle.  Shaman John Gilroy offers an Introduction to Shamanism course once a month, and a Shamanic Drumming Circle once monthly too.  Both are at New Light Sanctuary in Bay Shore on Long Island.  Shamanic journeys are unlike anything else I've ever experienced before, and they're kind of hard to explain in just a few words, so if you're interested in learning more, this description is very good.  My journeys last night were fruitful beyond description, but I'll need a lot more time to think about them before I share them publicly!  Time will tell how much I listen to what I learned there last night.

And that's it!  Those were my last 5 days of beautiful living.  I hope you enjoyed the experiences I shared here, and may your own journeys through life always be worth telling others about too!