Seasons of Love

http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/rent/psp/

Friday night, my amazing husband took me to the Dutch Apple Dinner Theater to see "RENT." The above website will tell you all about the show, but here is the description of it from the website selling the tickets:

The show that rocked Broadway is now debuting in Lancaster for a limited five week run. Take an intimate and powerful journey through a single year in the lives of a small circle of friends and artists living their dreams, battling their demons, looking for love, struggling to make their mark on the world and celebrating life on the streets of New York City's East Village. (PG-13 for mature content and language)

I think PG-13 was pretty liberal for the "mature content and language" - I would have rated it more in the R category. But, that said, it was an AMAZING show. I couldn't believe the thoughtfulness of my husband. We had passed by the Dutch Apple last week on the way to life group, and I said "Oh, RENT! I had wanted to see that on Broadway." Shawn then went to work and found tickets on Craig's List in Harrisburg, but didn't say anything. On Friday (the day of the actual show), the guy offered these amazing tickets to him for $50. The face value of the tickets was $50 each. Our table was in the center of the room, and we had a romantic table for two rather than the typical table of eight where you eat with strangers (or have a larger party). Shawn asked me if I'd like to go, and I got to work finding a babysitter. In the meantime, since my hubby was at work, I met the guy selling them in E-town (about half way from Harrisburg to Lancaster). He seemed very nice (although I must admit I'm always a little nervous about meeting someone to exchange money for merchandise, especially with my babies with me - thankfully it was in a public area and the guy was really nice and the tickets were legit).

Miranda, our babysitter, came right at 5:30 as I was finishing up making dinner for her and the boys. We left to get there by 6 when the doors opened. We enjoyed a lovely buffet dinner and tasty drinks in a keepsake glass; and we waited for the show to come on at 7:30. If we ever go again, I think we'll go a little later so there's less time in between eating and the show. That said, it was GREAT to be out together and enjoying one another's company and conversation. I had told Miranda we should have her home by 9:30 or 10 at the very latest. Little did I know that it was going to be 9 pm before intermission started. YIKES! Shawn called her to see if it was okay to have her home later, and she said it was and that the boys were already tucked in bed. Nice!

I will say that I didn't understand all of the show. There were parts that I asked Shawn about at intermission, but he didn't get them either. They sang just about every word, so parts of it went by a little too quickly to know for sure. But, we both got the gist. This was a group of friends, most of which had AIDS. I will laugh and say that a professor met what I thought was a woman in the beginning of the show and they ended up being together until this woman died... only when 'she' died, they kept talking about 'he' and then I realized eventually that 'he' was a transvestite/cross-dresser and they were gay. I completely missed it! 'He' (and it was a man that played the role - we looked at the website afterward just to make sure) was pretty convincing!!! Haaaaaa!!!! The whole point of the show was that you can't focus on the past and your regrets, you can't assume you'll have a tomorrow and you should live for today and measure your life in love. I loved the songs "Light my candle" and of course "Seasons of Love," which talks about how do you measure a person's life (in minutes, in diapers and report cards, or in seasons of love). When you look back on your own life, that's probably what we'll remember is those who loved us and we loved, etc. But, when they talked about diapers and report cards, I'll admit that I missed my boys. But, Shawn & I had an amazing time. I didn't realize that was the last weekend for the show, so I'm doubly impressed with Shawn taking the initiative to make sure I saw it. He is a wonderful husband! I am so lucky!


We got home around 10:30 pm, and Miranda was asleep in the rocking chair next to Caleb's crib. I tried five times before successfully waking her, which scared her half to death. She kept saying "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" after she jumped out of her skin. We felt bad. Shawn took her home since his car was already warm and I got changed out of my dress and peaked in at the boys.

Speaking of being lucky to have my incredible husband, we went to LCBC again this morning and the sermon was really, really good. The sermon series ending today was "Good Luck With That," where that's what we often think when someone decides to get married. :) :) :) The intro movie was Barbie & Ken in Vegas where she said "let's get married and make babies" and the guy when asked about his vows says "I guess so." We giggle at the intro every time. Today's sermon was on the following question posed: "Can you fall in love and actually stay in love for a life time?" I grinned and leaned over and whispered to Shawn "If he says 'no' then we're screwed!" and he laughed.

The sermon wasn't judgmental or "of course you stay together...suck it up!" but rather a very gentle sermon on how we as individuals can make our marriage work. And not just work, but really be good. The sermon was based on one from Andy Stanley and the scripture passage was from the "love" chapter in 1 Corinthians 13. Specifically, the Bible says in the New Living Translation:  ⁴ Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud ⁵ or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. ⁶ It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Pastor David Ashcraft stopped there and said "if you love someone, then these are things that you work on." But, the following verse was the basis for today's lesson:  ⁷ Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

He then went on to make an illustration on a blackboard. On the left side it said "what we expect" and on the right side it said "how they behave" and he said there is always a gap between the two (noting the middle section by drawing lines between the expectation and what actually happens. He said we have expectations that our spouses can never fulfill 100% of the time (no one is perfect) and how we respond to their imperfection is one of two ways: we can either 'assume the worst' or 'believe the best.' If someone doesn't come home on time, we can either assume that they don't care about our feelings or didn't bother to look at their watch or we can believe that they got tied up in traffic and were trying to get to us. How we respond is what our spouses see. He said that NO ONE wants to disappoint their spouse. But, we all do - from time to time we all screw up in some way, small or big. If the other person believes the best in us and doesn't crucify us for it, then our behavior moves closer to expectations and the entire situation moves us toward love. If the other person says things like "you're always bad with money, of course you didn't try, no wonder... how could I expect you to pick up the kids when you never do anything right," then it crushes the other person's heart; and eventually the spouse stops bringing their heart home with them. Two people can live together forever, but the question was "can they stay in love together forever." The study found that the couples who still were in love always believed the best about their partner. They looked on the bright side of the situation.

My favorite part in the sermon, or what hit home for me the most, is that when someone fails to meet your expectations, you can be "right" and say "you screwed up again" or you can give someone grace and believe the best about their intentions. I think so many times that we go through our intellect and have this need to be right, and we will be right predicting that our spouse will mess up. But, always being right leads to being alone. Instead, believing the best about the other person and understanding that no one wants to fail, being kind and keeping no record of wrongs, being always hopeful, and enduring every circumstance, (from 1 Corinthians 13:7) those gaps between expectation and actual behavior can propel us toward being more in love. It was an eye opener for me. I had to think about situations, do I assume the worst or believe the best? I want to say I believe the best about Shawn; after all, I'm nuts about him! But there are times that I fall short of that goal. I thoroughly enjoyed the sermon and always love when there are things I can work on to make our marriage better.

At the end, the pastor talked about the special music that was coming up and how when he heard this song, it brought him to tears. He explained that he never could find the right way to say what he felt (dating back to high school when he didn't know what to write in yearbooks) and would never be a greeting card writer. Then he said "picture your spouse" and this about sums up how he felt about his wife. I also got teary and Shawn put his arms around me... I definitely feel that I am the luckiest! The only way I could figure out how to share the song was to look for it on Youtube.com so I could embed it into this post... most of the options with the song in it were goofy homemade videos, but this one was simply black so you could hear the words to "The Luckiest" by Ben Folds.


I think back to other folks I dated before Shawn, even crushes I had in high school and I am SO THANKFUL that I ended up with my husband. God knew what a special guy he was and how he was perfect for me. I still know folks looking for "Mr. Right" (or Miss Right!), and I'm so glad that God gave me this special gift in my husband. There were times in life that I felt like the ugly duckling, but Shawn treats me like a beautiful swan. I couldn't ask for anything more in our marriage. God is good! I am blessed; and I always want to work on our marriage to make it the best it can be. I never just want to 'survive' it together... instead I look forward to times we're together as a couple and a family. So, to all you who are single or dating or married, I can say "Good luck with that!" ;-)