Lasting Impressions

by Deanna

Reflecting back over the past few months, there have been some major milestone anniversaries in America’s history, some rather significant, others less, but they have all made some sort of a lasting impression. 

The first was the 50^th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in November of 2013.  A day that I remember vividly and have repeated in words on a recent blog post on my personal blog entitled “I WasThere”. 

The 2^nd milestone was the introduction of the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show, again 50 years ago.  Now granted that doesn’t have near the same type of impact as the assassination of a US President, but the Beatles made a lasting impression on the music we have listened to from that point going forward.  If any of you missed the Beatles Tribute that was on TV recently I encourage you to search it out and watch.  It was a kick to see Ringo and Paul back together again, performing on stage.  What amazing talents these young men brought to the American music scene and again, I was there, newly married, sitting in our tiny apartment tuned in on our brand new TV that we hand carried home from the local TV store since at the time we didn’t even own a car.  I clearly remember that very night they made their American debut on the Ed Sullivan show.  All the screaming girls and that hair, a revolution in music began that night.

And most recently we were reminded by Ellen DeGeneres during the Oscar night awards this past Sunday that this is the 75^th anniversary of the debut of “The Wizard of Oz”.  Now I was NOT there for that, but not being there sure doesn’t diminish my love for this great American movie classic.   And who among us doesn’t know the words to “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”?!   My love for this movie is two fold, one for it’s wonderful message of true friendships, the struggle against evil and the fact that there really is “no place like home”. 

However the 2^nd reason is a little more personal.  When my sweetie was younger he had great aspirations of becoming an actor.  As a young man he participated in a Summer Theatre Group (The Cherry County Playhouse) in Traverse City Michigan, where they brought in big name stars for the leads and the young aspiring actors as the “co-stars”.  Along with the nighttime “big name star” productions, during the day there were children’s productions and one summer, my sweetie portrayed  “The Scarecrow” in The Wizard of Oz production, the character that claimed he had no brain and needed the Wizard to grant him one.  Altho the Scarecrow felt he had no brain, it was revealed during the performance that indeed he was the wisest of them all by showing a quick wit, common sense and a remarkable insight.  All he needed was a little self confidence.  My sweetie loved that role, probably one of his favorites among the many that he portrayed over his acting career.  His sister, Sally gave this Scarecrow figurine to my sweetie for his birthday one year and it sits proudly on the bookshelf as a reminder of that time in his life.  

I think there are times in my life that I could sure use a Wizard who, like the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion, would give me the self confidence that I have the brains to make wise decisions, also a heart for tenderness and love, and bravery to face my challenges . This quote by E. E. Cummings pretty well sums it up…."We do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that deep inside us something is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust, sacred to our touch. Once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveals the human spirit."