I spent the day watching one act plays at a UIL competition. Comedies. Tragedies. Teenagers playing old people. Irish, Scottish, British, Amish and New Jersey accents. Some well done. Some unintelligible.
Work has been a total buzz-kill this week so it was an absolute delight to lose myself in the darkness, spending 45 minutes at a time in different worlds, different times, different contexts.
Then, an hour waiting for the judge to finalize his results, sitting next to a 3rd grader who was fascinated by the potholder I was crocheting. Who told me all about his field trip to Inner Space Caverns. Who didn’t need me for anything. No escalations, no demands, just friendly chatter. In the end, his parents thanked me – presumably for tolerating him, but I gave them my heartfelt thanks. In this day and age, it’s nice that they allowed their young son to visit with a stranger (even if only in the seats right in front of them).
Ultimately the 8 hours spent at the UIL competition was the high point of my week.
