Rejoicing in a Rent-less Moment

Every year, at Christmas, my grandmother purchases tickets to the Paper Mill Playhouse for Calie and me, my siblings, and cousins.  She picks the day and the show, months in advance, that forces all of us to “prioritize” this date and put it on the calendar. We all have busy lives and jam-packed schedules, young kids, and countless other things to do. We all love each other and get along; but rare are the moments when our schedules align so that we can all get together at the same time. But because this gift is from Grandma, we make sure this night happens. No excuses. Everyone shows up.  Thus, this past Sunday evening, all 15 of us headed to Millburn to see ‘Rent.’  But first we were off to our traditional pre-show dinner. Halfway through dinner, we received the call that the show had been canceled. No joke. Seriously.  With only about 75 minutes before showtime, they had to cancel the evening show due to a rampant illness amongst the cast. So much for “the show must go on!”

My grandmother, who called and broke the news to us all, was heartbroken.  You could hear the tears through the phone. But the thing of it was, none of us really cared. Sure, it would have been great to see the show.  But at the end of the day, we were more than abundantly enjoying the family time together. The show may not have gone on, but our night still did. We poured another glass of wine and decided there was now plenty of room in both our stomachs and our evening schedules to order dessert. We had nowhere else to be! We wouldn’t let something, completely outside of our control and unable to be changed, stop us from a good time. Anyone else in the restaurant could have told you that. We were loud, laughing, and enjoying every minute of our “forced” time together. 

I share this with you, simply as encouragement to take time to have fun and laugh with those you love this summer. We can jam-pack our summer schedules with baseball games, household projects, and all sorts of other things. It’s easy to always be on-the-go. The last two nights our All-Star baseball season has been washed out. Though bummed in the moment, it did allow for consecutive nights of family dinners—all together and all at the same time. Sometimes, it is in the rainy or rent-free days of life that allow us to reconnect, recharge and we find the best memories being made.

“A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawnmower is broken.” (James Dent)