Make Room Heaven, You've Got a New Ambassador!

Last night I watched a movie which wasn't particularly good, and I can't even tell you what it's called. But there was this scene, where a woman was crying after she had left her husband who she discovered had been cheating on her. And I thought to myself, it's been a long time since I've cried like that, or been sad enough to cry like that. I mean a real emotional breakdown. As odd as it sounds, I was a little jealous. To be so sad, to shed tears and feel pain of loss means you have loved something so much, that's the only way to create such sorrow. The past six months have been so great for me, finally driving to Costa Rica, finding a beautiful house, making new friends and getting an awesome job, I haven't had a reason to be sad in quite some time; until today.

This morning I checked my email and found a message from a old co-worker of mine from my job at The Altarena Playhouse. She was informing me of our good friend Rick James' failing health. He had been battling cancer, brain tumors, for the past few years and according to his girlfriend, was nearing the end of his journey. His girlfriend was urging those who loved him to send him letters, cards, or visit him to say goodbye. This news wasn't unexpected. He knew for quite sometime now that his cancer was terminal. As I sat down an hour later to write him an email, I saw another email that Rick has passed away this morning, peacefully, surrounded by loved ones.

Rick James came to be the Ambassador for The Altarena Playhouse around the same time that I began working there as the Box Office Manager in January of 2010. He had been involved with the playhouse before, but he created the role of Ambassador for himself, helping out with front of house duties, pouring wine, getting our season ticket holder numbers up from 600 when I started to over 800 by the time I left. He had a name tag and all, and he would wear it out around town in Alameda, where he was known and loved by many through his job as a middle school teacher, his involvement at church and his general friendliness.

Rick was one of those great people to be around. Always helpful in anyway possible. Eager to lend a hand, do a favor, excited to hear your stories and tell you his. He really came out of his shell in the years that I knew him. When our theater did its production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, he came dressed in fishnet stalkings and a lab coat every night. He always encouraged his students to come see shows and rewarded them with extra credit for being involved in and attending the theater. He knew how to have a good time, he loved wine and good food. He loved the arts, music, theater, song. He loved going to church. He loved teaching and being around his students. He kept doing everything he loved right up until the end. He knew his life was coming to an end, but he lived every last moment of it, and his energy rubbed off on everyone around him.

I didn't get to write him an email telling him how much he meant to me. I didn't get to say goodbye. I hate that. I don't doubt that he knew how much I loved him. He knew he was loved by a great many people. He was a good person, a special person. It's just always so hard to know that bright lights go dim before they should.

Today has been the coldest day I've experienced since I got to Costa Rica. I woke up to the rain. Recieved the sad news, and have been spending some time looking at old pictures and thinking fondly of my time with Rick. I feel blessed to have met him, and privledged to have been able to call him my friend. I feel sorry for those who did not know him, and I feel sorry for the community he is leaving behind. The rain hasn't stopped all day and I think the jungle is crying with me, aware that a beautiful soul has left us.

I'm drinking a bottle of cheap white wine, which Rick would have hated, he preferred reds. But I know he would have drank it with me anyways. Here's to you Rick James! I know Heaven has one hell of an Ambassador!

At the Cast Party for The Fantastiks

Slow Down Everyone, You're Moving too Fast

The past few days have brought some unsettling blows to our expected departure date of what was hoped to be this past Monday, December 10th, 2012. As it were, we are still in Oakland today, Wednesday, December 12th, and will most likely be here for another two days.

On Saturday night, we were at our good friend's house, having a little going away get together of sorts. Nothing crazy, just about a dozen friends, eating food and spending some time together before we go our separate ways for a while. Our friends live up in the hills of Oakland, not the super rich hills, but the hills nonetheless. I, Liz, decided to call it an early night, as Sunday was going to be a busy day, and I like to stay on point when getting ready for a trip. Around 1:00am, I declared it my bedtime, offered rides to anyone who needed or wanted one as I was the driver for the night, said goodbye to loved ones, expecting to be leaving in two days time, and walked out the front door. What did I discover? My car was gone. Stolen. And, it's not even really my car. You see, I had been car sitting for our friend while she is out of state. I've had the car since April, and never has a problem occurred, so you can see my aggravation that literally just as we are trying to leave the country, we now have this to deal with. What's more, is that since I am not the registered owner of the vehicle, it was a less than pleasant experience reporting the car stolen to Oakland Police Department. OPD can't report a car stolen by anyone other then registered owner, and the registered owner needs to be present to file the report. So at 4:30am, after waiting three and half hours for an officer to respond to the call, I was told there was nothing he could do, and that my best bet was to do what the dispatcher had told me at 1:00am, which was to have my friend get something in writing notarized, saying that I had her permission to drive the car. I had to take this notarized document to OPD on Sunday to file the report.

So, after a lot of tears, frustration, a lack of sleep, and a set back in travel preparations, not to mention a missed birthday party for a one year old, we found ourselves a little shaky Monday morning to get back on track to leave. There were still things to do! And a lot of them. So we began plugging along again, packing up every last thing, storing all the remaining important pieces of our lives, one more night with more friends and family, the dogs trip to the vet for Good Health Certificates, and then......more car trouble. Our Yukon had an engine light come on with the error code of cylinder 5 misfiring. Oh great.

What does it all mean? Is there a greater message in the events or are they random? When things go wrong, the first impulse is to find the underlying sign, the reason things are unfolding in this manner. But maybe there is no greater meaning, maybe it's all just chaos theory, like Jeff Goldblum so eloquently describes in Jurassic Park. We did our best to stay positive, to realize that if we couldn't handle some bumps in the road now, in the comfort of this place we've come to call home, how would we fair with difficulties on the road, of which there will be many. We forged ahead.

Silver lining: We took the car down to my good mechanic Stan, at 5th Street Garage, perhaps the most kind and honest mechanic the world has ever known. He hooked the car up to his little electric gadget that reads the computer chip in the car and surmised that the flaw is in the error code, not the cylinder itself. He reset it, told us to drive if for a day or two, bring it back and as long as the light hasn't come back on, we should be good to go. No charge for this service and mostly, peace of mind. So, we have two days to kill, even though we are ready to go and my thoughts are this, we've been moving too fast. OPD has an 80% recovery rate of stolen cars, so the good news is if we stay around for a few more days, I might get a phone call saying the car has been found, which is great for everyone involved. Also, some important mail has yet to arrive and while I can leave without it, I would rather be here for it. That being said, a few more days isn't the worst thing ever, just a reminder that things happen at their own speed, and you can't control the timing of everything. And if I can't learn that here and now, I'm doomed in Central America, where time has it's own agenda and won't care what I think or feel about it.

The theme song for today? Inaudible Melodies by Jack Johnson. This was a very important song for me in my early college years and I think it's fitting that it has been stuck in my head all morning, reminding me that this is not a race, this is life, and it's meant to be enjoyed, highs and lows, good times and bad. Relish in all of it, because as my good friend Benny so aptly put it once, "It's not always gonna be like this". The reason all of this is happening, is to make us slow down, take a breath, and leave here leisurely, completely ready, not rushed and panicked, hoping we remembered to do everything we wanted to. We have more time, and this is never really a bad thing, just a chance to make better use of the time you have been given.