Feeling something.

I have always been attracted to musicians.  There is something about someone expressing their rawest feelings in the poetry of lyrics to a backdrop of notes.  There is something about the contrast of a room full of guitars leaning against the wall and a room filled with the sound of someone picking up that guitar to play.  I suppose that the same goes for actors, comedians, or any other type of entertainer - we all have the same space in this world to do something, and these individuals choose to fill their space with things that make us laugh, or cry, or just think about the world a little differently all while and with the risk of sharing a part of themselves with us, in the process.  

This evening, I went to a play written by a friend who I met when I worked in Maine in summer 2011.  In the month that Danielle has been in Portland, we've met up twice and I was pleasantly surprised at how our connection felt so natural and one of those "it-seems-like-no-time-has-passed" friends.  She has also just had a breakup and not only moved out of the apartment, but also the city, that they both had lived.  Over the past two weeks here in Portland, she has had the opportunity to write a show as part of a "lab" for a Portland theater production company.  Tonight, I watched this performance come to life with beautiful song and a charming, engaging, emotional, and very real character that felt like I was experiencing firsthand the story that Danielle had shared with me over brunch a few weeks prior about how she and her ex-boyfriend split.  The show was inspired by her story, but was also the story of anyone who ever wondered, "How can you make love last?"  

I cried.  Of course.  It's the second time this week a song about breaking up has made me cry.  I'm not really sure if it's a good thing or if it's not a good thing or if it's just a thing.  But,  I am keenly aware and appreciative that I am feeling something which I know is always better than feeling nothing.

As I've mentioned before, writing has always helped me to figure myself out and has been extremely therapeutic for me.  I imagine the process of writing this show was the best thing Danielle could have given herself to work through her feelings and better understand this new reality of hers, since closing the door on her now-ex.  Feeling something has always got to be better than feeling nothing.  

Today's photo is from my summer in Maine, where I spent a summer baking, and also where I met Danielle.  This was me, looking up, on my morning walk to work at the bakery.