North to Raleigh

Hello kids. I have just arrived in Raleigh, NC, and it’s cold, rainy, and did I mention cold? I am very concerned about all you Yankees up north, because if it’s this cold down here, I know it’s cold up there. Yes, I do check the weather on occasion (I adore my iPhone, keeping me connected and informed).

Well I’m sitting in yet another Marriott, one of the favorites of this tour. I am not impressed with this one though, although we are directly across the superhighway from a mall. Too bad we arrived at 5:55 and the mall closes at 6pm. Also, my room was oddly vacant of any hotel information, mainly a room service menu. All good, I had to run back down to the bus for a bag anyhow, so I picked one up on the way back to my room. That being said, I feel as though I’m in the middle of nowhere. I’m not, but the parking lot is at the back of the hotel, surrounded by huge trees, and after being in the middle of Atlanta, it just feels like the middle of nowhere.

I’m looking forward to my day travels tomorrow with a dear friend whom I haven’t seen since high school. I think it’s been about 18 years now. WOW. I’m feeling a little better each day, and am not going to miss this opportunity to catch up with her. It’s been so long. I ran away from home when I left for college. Most of my friends at ‘home’ were older than I, and I really only called about 3 people that I went to school with friends. All my Friends were people that I did theatre with. There was a very traumatic event my senior year of high school, that shook up (and down) my group of friends. It was a very sensational and devastating moment for my hometown, as it involved the vicious and brutal murder of a friend of mine, by another friend of mine, who were in fact also good friends. Let’s talk about total betrayal. To this day, we still don’t really know why it happened. The guilty isn’t talking, and of course, my other friend was the victim. So when I say that I ran away from home when I went to school, that’s not really an exaggeration. This event ruined friendships and relationships, and I went off to college not knowing if I was going to have to come back home and testify in court. (my current girlfriend and I were less than 25 yards away from the murder site just moments before it happened. We placed our ‘friends’ cars at the scene, even though we didn’t realize what had happened or was happening until the next day. Anyhow, that’s the past, but because of the trauma involved, I fell out of touch with most of those people over the following years. It was too painful to relieve those horrid months, and we weren’t capable of talking to each other without constantly wondering why it all happened. (Now you know why I have an aversion to gory movies and csi, I’ve seen the 68 court photo’s of the scene, and of the body, and still to this day, 18 years later, they can instantly become vivid in my mind. The pain has eased over the years, but it is still present. Although I no longer wonder why, as I accepted long ago that we were never going to know.
Oddly enough we are approaching the anniversary of that day, as it happened in late January, 1990.
Hmmm, got off on a tangent, but anyhow… I’m meeting one of my friends, and am looking forward to the day together. At one point in time, we took a trip to Toronto together to see the opening of Phantom there! I still remember that road trip with fond memories and she’s now a music and drama teacher. It will be great fun to get back together with my theatre friends and catch up with everything that we have been doing in the past 18 years… my, have we grown so old?

Hmmmm Atlanta. Well, we had a pretty decent crew, even if the prep did take all day. I saw my second DR in two days, to follow up on this ear infection. I’m making improvement, but the last dr also hooked me up with some steroids, to help reduce the inflammation and to jump start the healing process. My murse is exploding, antibiotics, steroids, my vicks, my vitamins, my other pills, and my shower tablets… by the way, let’s take a break to talk about these shower tablets… they are awesome people!! You just throw it on the shower floor and turn on the water. It’s like tub alka-selser, it bubbles and releases your choice of scent and menthol. Works with the steam to open your breathing passages. Many hours were spent in my bathroom steam room, reading my damp book, with the shower running and my tablets. Although I confess I think I am now expelling lavender and sage when I sweat…. Hehehe

That’s all I have time for tonight kids. I’ll try and catch you up again when I hit Miami!

Love and Light!