And we’ll talk in present tenses.

Saw the Color Purple musical last week, and though I wasn’t really enthralled with it, there were beautiful moments that served to remind me of the stunning beauty of that book. I definitely need to read it again, as I think I would find it particularly relevant to the way I’ve been feeling lately. I mean, if there’s ever been a tale of the importance of patience in the present and acceptance in the moment, well, The Color Purple is it. It’s a story that spans decades; a story that begins in utter tragedy and despair, and recounts the evolution of that despair and horror over a period of years and years (something clearly not suited to the Broadway stage, in which years of horror are encapsulated into about fifteen minutes), and the beautiful and surprising ways in which it slowly and little by little transforms itself into hope and ultimately, joy. If the characters had hung it up in the face of their various trials, they never would have made it to the hopeful and satisfying resolution that was decades in the making. Decades. Now that’s some patience for you.

A good reminder for me to be sure, in this time when I’m having so much trouble living in the moment, and simply being present and still.

Ironically though, seeing it also reminded me of something a little less optimistic. See, it starred LaChanze in the role of Celie, an actress who instantly took me back to a time ten years ago; a time I probably didn't need to be reminded of right now.

Shortly after arriving in NYC, I went with several friends to see a production of Company that was playing on Broadway at the time, and it just so happens that LaChanze was in that production as well. For those that are unfamiliar with the musical (I was) it’s basically the story of a bunch of married couples, and their one single male friend (who they love and to whom they are all devoted and/or dependent in their own ways) who moves around the peripheries of their relationships, struggling to make meaningful connections of his own but always coming up just a little short.

Yeah.

I remember going home that night, getting a call from an old friend, and telling her about the show and how I could totally relate to that character; that I could totally see myself being the single guy in a circle of attached friends, all of whom are loving and devoted and wonderful in their ways, and all of whom have managed to find satisfaction in meaningful connections, while I stumble through one sad attempt after another.

Fast forward ten years later.

So aside from the reminders of life’s persistent and often unexpected beauty and warmth, that’s what sitting in that theater last week meant to me.

Excuse me while I go find my own field, full of the color purple.