Two women

              There are many people I’ve come to respect over the course of my life. For diverse reasons I find them exemplars of some aspect of what I suppose I’ve come to consider ‘right living.’ Marilyn and Barry for how they came through Christopher’s death and in spite of their loss found a way to make life good for their other children. Anne for redefining herself on her own terms.

              Joe is facing terminal illness with grace and humor, while Elaine remains the perfect partner for a man who will be gone too soon but for the moment is very much still here.

              Mary for too many reasons to list here, and many of them too private. Rachel for finding friends by being a friend.

              Sherree for persevering, all the while providing foundation for Naomi and always a kind (or frequently, goofy) word for someone who needed it.

              All of these and more have contributed to my life in ways that I could not have predicted, didn’t ask for, but without which I question whether I could have become myself.

              I’m thinking of two such people tonight, each a friend in her own way and each a special contributor to my life. What they have in common is that each of them set out to find her dream, to fashion a life around a central theme that was uniquely her own.

              Sindy was always going to be an actor and sure enough, she is and always has been. Her life in theatre has followed the ragged course that life defines for you even as she kept her nose ever pointed in the direction of her dream. There were sidesteps and roadblocks and other passions but never did she give up on her need to be herself, a self that needed to be played out - at least in part - on the boards. She is well along in her journey now and recently has returned to the core, acting with friends old and new and expressing herself through her chosen medium.

              Angela also dreamed of the life dramatic and charted a course no less serpentine than Sindy’s. There have been successes and setbacks and just now she finds herself at a crossroads, faced with the choice of taking one path or the other, or perhaps blazing a new one of her own. I take great pride in her achievements but even more, my chest swells at her striving. She shares with Sindy the single-minded passion for her art that ensures, even if it’s not always her job, it will always be somehow entwined in her life’s work.

              Sindy’s life didn’t follow a straight line. News flash – neither has mine. Or Mary’s or Sherree’s or those of the many people I respect and care for.

              And so far, neither has Angela’s. And that’s okay. Because she has never given up or given in and I’ve no doubt she will get there, wherever ‘there’ is.

              Lives aren’t supposed to follow straight lines. The only true requirement is that they must be lived. I respect these two women for living their lives. Their lives, shaped by circumstance and events, knocked occasionally off course by the actions or inactions of others. But in the end, their lives.
              We could all stand to live more for ourselves.