 SYNCHRONICITY:
Scene-Watching Modern Family…(one of my favorite shows) Beautiful lily flowers on the coffee table beside me have made themselves very present all week long, exuding their potent scent. As Cam and Mitchell share dialogue about how their family pet-"Larry the cat" may not come back, Cam assures to Mitchell that Larry is certainly dead. However Cam feels that holding this info in is best to spite their young daughter OMG…..REALIZATION JUST HAPPENED….whose name is LILY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (no joke--that didn't even hit me until I typed that) Synchronicity at its best! As this dialogue continues about “death,” out of the corner of my eye I catch something move. I look over and notice one of the beautiful lilies literally collapse and keel over the edge of the vase. IN MULTIPLE PLACES. It was like each limb off the stem just gave up; exhausted and couldn’t beautify the air anymore. It was time. I just experienced a flower die. Death. In real time. I felt my mouth immediately frown. My heart pound. It felt. Felt for this flower. Something so simple that I subconsciously passed every day left such a dent. The look on my face hasn’t changed yet. It’s giving me a headache! Gosh, I wish you could’ve seen it! It was like its own dance-except maybe not as graceful as when it’s alive and well in a field, accompanied by the gentleness sways of the wind. It was a sad and sullen brokenness of a dance. That was so heartbreaking it was beautiful in itself. Just. So. Sad. So much so that I want to make a dance about it because the movements of it were that specific. It is now in my mind. So what do you do when you witness a flower die? You apparently do something about it. Because how often do you experience a flower die?! Or anything die right before your eyes?! (SIDE NOTE): I do have a number of associations to lilies ironically enough. Lillies were given to my mother from a great neighbor/fellow church-goer when I was born-just a year after my family moved to my hometown. A welcoming gift to us as a family and to the new addition. Me. Lillies were to be planted-to grow and bloom as I did the same. To this day every spring-there they are. One tiny little bush at the side of our house,now 25 years later, has blossomed into a gorgeous lily bush that is taller than our front porch-it blocks out the sun! I love it. I remember taking pictures next to it each year. Documenting our growth together. I also played the wonderful, fantastical Lillie Langtry in a period salon at The Actors Movement Conservatory in NYC, my sophomore year of college. Mini-bio, Lillie Langtry was a famous socialite –think the “Kim Kardashian”of the early 19th century. (Only more talented and worthy than Miss Kardashian---by the way, are there any actually talented celebrity socialites that do more than make millions by showcasing bad decisions on their reality shows? Hmmm, I’m too tired to think of this…) Anyways, she was one of Oscar Wildes’ best friends too and if you know me, you know he is one of my favorite playwrights. Overall, Miss Lillie Langtry was one of the best and most fulfilling characters I’ve ever got to create and live. A beautiful soul inside and out. A true Lily. I hold her name and life very near and dear to my craft. Well, after ALL that... And because this happened in real time and this is an impromptu writing frenzy, I do not have some inspiring, awesome YouTube video of my flower dying dance to show you. But I promise you-It will be a dance. BOOM. Done. That’s what I’m going to do. And though it was sad, and my face below shows concern; I feel warm. I feel glad I witnessed a beautiful death. A paradox really. "Beautiful Death"-Two words you don't see paired together often. Maybe there's hope to learn from this. Hope that there is indeed such possibility as a beautiful death. Or rather beautiful goodbye. A "You did me well. I'm glad I could help make your world a little sweeter." That lily knew it achieved its job of perfuming well. And it had enough. So people-stop to smell the lillies. Or roses. Or whatever else you find on your subconscious path because you never know when it's time is up. So thank you sweet lily. I leave you with this. Goodnight lily, You stood so tall Now forlornly you fall It’s time for rest I’ll give it my best Because in me You are still beautiful. Comments are closed.
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