Friday, February 4, 2011

On the Run



A long time ago, I had a boyfriend who was a ski nut. Because I was just plain nuts and tended to go along with stuff to please people, I got hurt.

It was Christmas vacation and I should have listened to my better instincts, the ones that say, "No, do not do this. Stay by the fire and drink hot cocoa. You can lace it with brandy and hang out with Jane Eyre."

You know where this is going. I did none of the above and on top of Old Smokey, or more accurately Blackcomb in Whistler, B.C. — where Olympic skiers speed, for Pete's sake — I heard the tear.

Said boyfriend thought himself, not only a great skier, but a great ski instructor as well. His girlfriend was a dumb-dumb in issues of love and went along with a plan which took them to the top of the scariest peak.

It was in what should have been a simple turn that the anterior cruciate ligament behind my left knee snapped like a bad piano wire.

I was transported through the air, on my back, in a toboggan, down two chairlifts. And this isn't even the worst part of the story.

Here was the truly dreadful aspect of my circumstance: I was expected to be in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in six days to start rehearsals as Viola in "Twelfth Night."

"No, I cannot have surgery. Give me another option."

"Ummm...another option, okay. No surgery?"

"Good, we'll go with that."

The theatre's producer understandably looked aghast when I was wheeled toward him with my leg, in a brace, poised straight out in front of me.

"Hey, thanks for meeting me," I said in a voice much too jovial and much too loud. "This old thing...it's nothing. I'll be fine, no problem. I'll be up and out of this in no time. Don't you worry about my Viola, no siree."

A strange thing, the acting bug. The adrenaline of possibly being fired from a really good part had me up and into swordplay within four days. I lifted weights on the leg, I strengthened the muscles around the knee, and I sailed on.

A week or so ago, our dog ripped his ACL and did have to have surgery.


The poor little fellow recently wanted to audition for the role of the dog Crab in "Two Gentlemen of Verona," but we convinced him to hold out for a movie role. Or even better — it's pilot season.


We also told him that this what fashionable Elizabethan dogs wore.

CHILDREN'S WRITES: A Journal Entry
I love my pets because their very funny and werid. My cat is really werid that’s why I love him. My girl guineapig is really smart. My puppy is funny cause she chases her tail. My boy guineapig really sweet.
Chloe, 4th grade

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