What a difference a Year makes!

I always look forward to “Arts in the Park” every May. If you’ve never been, you have to go. The grounds of Byrd Park surrounding the carillon are filled with vendors who make everything from pottery, to jewelry, to birdfeeders, and the list goes on and on. Booths filled with amazing paintings and photography are everywhere. I’ve been going for at least 20 years, and I don’t think I’ve ever been able to visit every booth any particular year. It’s an awesome, sometimes overwhelming, explosion of creativity. Parking is almost impossible. You are indeed blessed if you can find street parking anywhere near, and, of course, if you do, you must be a skilled parallel parker. More and likely you will be walking a couple of blocks to get to the event. I always see at least one person I know, usually several, while I am walking to or from or wandering from booth to booth.
Last year, walking to “Arts in the Park”, I saw a dear friend. He was coming from the event and he was eating an ice cream cone or funnel cake, I can’t remember which. I was really surprised to see him, and I was thrilled and a little anxious at the same time. Anxious because I had learned a few months before seeing him that he had been diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer. When I found out the news, it really hit me hard!!!! Part of the reason was that I had actually known this wonderful man for over 18 years, but had only really grown close to him over the previous year. We met for the first time doing a show at Swift Creek Mill Playhouse called “Me and My Girl” in 1991. From 1991 to 2009, we did 6 shows together. The final show we were in was a play called “Breakfast with Les and Bess” He was Les, and I was Bess. We played a married couple who did a morning radio show from their New York Apartment. The show was built around their relationship, and a huge bulk of the show was these two actors relating to each other. I did some of my finest work on stage in that show largely due to my co-star. I had never had better chemistry with anyone on stage. It was magic! Even when I look at pictures from the show, they don’t look like “pictures from a show.” They look like snapshots from the lives of these two people. Sadly there is no videotape of this show. I wish there were. During the rehearsals and performances of “Les and Bess” I had the privilege to really get to know my friend. He was wonderfully talented and sweet and so giving on stage and off. Knowing him made me a better person.
So this year, when I was walking to “Arts in the Park,” I thought about last year when I met Jay eating his treat. He looked thin and a little tired, but he saw me, and he smiled that fabulous smile of his, and I gave him a big hug. When I was planning to go to “Arts in the Park” this year, I thought about what a difference a year makes. Jay left us in October of 2009. I miss him!!!, and I am sure I will never head down that sidewalk again on my way to the white tents that sprout all over Byrd Park without remembering meeting Jay and his smile that very warm day in May and hoping they have funnel cake and ice cream in Heaven.