I have a pretty big case of the winter blahs. I’m not yet ready to call them ‘blues’, because overall I’m still loving life – but some sun would be nice! So while under the influence of rain clouds (better than alcohol 😉 ) my sister-in-law and I have decided to inject (too many addict puns?) some fun into our winter day’s until the earth decides to tilt a little more toward the sun, and provide some desperately needed vitamin D. So, the other night we, along with my niece and her friend, travelled to Toronto to see The Phantom of the Opera – It was amazing!
I had never seen it before, and from beginning to end I was on the edge of my seat in awe of the imagination necessary to create such a masterpiece. There was so much beauty evolving on the stage at any given moment that I felt I couldn’t move my eyes around enough to see it all. The costumes, the sets, the characters, all took my creative heart to a mesmerizing world, and I loved every gasp and tear along the way. But as I was watching, I realized that while I’m sure that most of the audience was wrapped up in the drama of the story and in the voices bearing a gift that proved to me that there is a heaven, I couldn’t help but to notice other things on stage. Like how complex the lighting was, and how every angle and every colour must have been envisioned before even turning on a switch; how brilliant the minds were behind the scenes! When it was finished, I turned to my sister-in-law and told her that I wanted to see it again so that I could have a second chance to see what I missed; there’s just so much to experience.
“I want to see it again, so that I could have a second chance to see what I missed”…Well isn’t that a perfect line in opera of my life! True second chances have been presented to me for over a year now, and I have loved them all. I have loved all of the angles of new light, the evolution of my imagination, and the beauty this earth has enveloped me in; the beauty of patience and acceptance. Day after day, my trust in the script set before me has helped me to stop worrying about the small set-malfunctions, and most importantly has taught me to stop continuously rewriting it, because it’s already wonderful the way it is. The actors have changed along the way, but that’s normal, and good! They have left their mark on the legacy of this production, and have gone forth to other experiences in order for them to continue to grow and develop their craft; their own masterpieces.
What a gift it has been for me to have learned how to be present in the now, and to experience life. My sister-in-law has taught me a very important mantra that reminds me how to stay in the now and not get too ahead of myself; which is very easy for me to do! She says that, ‘today, you are already enough’. How profound! Saying this to myself when my mind is racing into the next millennium of ideas, or recounting things of the past, reminds me to stop and continue to enjoy the all the angles of light I would have missed if were the old me. This simple sentence allows me to experience my second chances, and I highly recommend everyone try it out for themselves!
So before you race into 2016 with a list of resolutions that you will want to burn faster than a New Year’s countdown, take a moment to admire the second chances all around you, and let your life opera sing the words that are already written; because today, you are already enough.
Happy 2016! ~Nat
Paramedic Nat 