Our Town

"The central theme of Thornton Wilder's Pulitzer Prize winning Our Town is the bittersweet music of ordinary life.  The play focuses around the small ordinary town of Grover. It could be the story of any one of us; the setting could be the very town we live in. With subtle brilliance, Wilder underscores the blessedness of everyday living. The very wonder of life itself and the tragic reminder that many fail to recognize until its too late reaches a high note when Emily dies far too young in childbirth.  The next scene is, for me, the most memorable in the play.  Emily asks for the privilege of going back to see life one last time. Although the other ghosts discourage her, she insists and ends up going back to her 12th birthday.  There she views her own life through the thin veil that separates life and death.  She is painfully startled to realize that people don't recognize how short and sacred life is. She pleads her case but no one can hear her- except us.  Except us.  What Emily notices most are the simple things- the smell of coffee, the feel of a starched dress, the simple delicate taste of a morning meal, a touch, a look, an ever swift passing moment of tenderness. No one can read or see this play without a catch of breath, a quiet pause during which we are haltingly grateful again for the gift of life itself. As Emily says, "Oh, earth, you are too wonderful for anyone to realize you. Did any human beings ever realize life (and how wonderful it is) while they live it? Every, every minute." -Tim Hansel You Gotta Keep on Dancin' 

picture taken yesterday on my drive back from a school visit in Renton (no filters- just pure beauty!)