THOSE I SAW AND DIDN’T
1. On October 31, when I left my building for the theater, I couldn’t tell who was coming home from work and who was going to the Village Parade. This year the Parade headed down my street, ending at my corner. When my daughter was little, we marched in it with Judy and her daughters, our close friends. How sweet it was! And is! At age 20, I moved to Greenwich Village to be part of the everyday parade.
2. BETRAYAL-I saw it on Broadway in 1980 and 33 years later with Mike Nichols directing and my husband beside me it was more complex than I remembered with much between Pinter’s lines. Who betrayed whom? Why? Sexual betrayal. Self betrayal. Other betrayals, too. Conscious. Unconscious. The dynamics and jealousies among 3 people…..what a lot to chew on. And Daniel Craig…..oh my!
3. The rooms at The Mount in the Berkshires have been restored to look like they did when Edith Wharton lived there. In the dining room, the table was set. Henry James had meals their regularly. Mr. Wharton did not. The Wharton marriage was unhappy. I wonder where Mr. W ate. In the bedroom, a group of photos of Edith’s brothers and father hang over her bed. Way off to the side and barely noticeable was a small one of her mother. The docent said they did not get along. I asked a lot of questions. The docent had lots of answers. I’m pretty sure I will never be a docent. Or win a Pulitzer Prize.
4. On the front of a greeting card I recently saw is a picture of a man in a doctor’s office sitting on the examining table with the doctor standing beside him. The doctor says, “I can fix what’s wrong with your back.” On the inside, the doctor continues with, “but then you’ll run the risk of having nothing to talk about.”
5. Which brings me to Judy. We became friends in 1979 when our daughters were playmates. During my divorce, we ate dinner together in her penthouse apartment several nights a week. On weekends, we hung out together with our kids. Alone we saw plays and walked. Our building staff might have thought we were a couple. We were together all the time. Nine years ago, when she and her husband decided to sell their apartment and move to their country house, I freaked out. On moving day, I cried. “We’ll always be family,” she said as the movers loaded the van. Initially, we saw each other often. When my apartment was painted, she came in to help me de-clutter and buy new things. I swam in her pool. She spoke at my wedding. We don’t visit each other much nowadays. We talk. About our grandchildren, daughters, work, our hair and health, politics, music—we wrote part of a musical together—and on and on. About everything. We don’t run the risk of having nothing to say. It’s easy with Judy. The bond is strong. I love her. She’s there.
Dear Readers, –Two things to note: There is a new link to LOVE ‘N STUFF. It is www. nancykelton.com –The next contest is December 3 and it is for subscribers. The subscription box is on the upper right here. The name of the winner will be posted Dec. 17 and sent a prize from Fishs Eddy.
