will you spend your life with me? for the next 10 minutes.

One of my favorite broadway voices is in the news this week, as the dates for his new musical (and Jerry Mitchell of course) CATCH ME IF YOU CAN are pushed back because of this:

"The lesbian sister of Tony Award winner Norbert Leo Butz was stabbed to death in her Seattle-area home on Sunday. Police are investigating the murder as a possible hate crime."

First of all, my cast did a prayer circle for this amazing member of our community. Secondly though, it left me thinking- is it 1987? Are people still being murdered? It seems to me the world is a little more classy than that. I guess I am wrong. Thirdly, are we still not accepting enough of eachother that HATE crimes still happen? I am in shock that this kind of small minded thinking even goes on anymore. So sad. Please universe grant us all compassion and peace so that we can focus on the really important things.

The first time I heard Butz's voice was when a friend introduced me to what is now tied in my top 2 musicals "The Last 5 Years". It is funny how if you sing along with someones voice enough you start to feel like you know them. I don't of course, but this news breaks my heart. For him, his family, what was supposed to be a great week opening a great new Jerry Mitchell show and mostly for the universe. So sad.

This was a perfect day to look up this song and take another listen. I love this song and how it sings about just living in the moment. It asks "will you spend your life with me? for the next 10 minutes" and when that ends if we are ok, I am going to ask you for another 10. Maybe this is the best way to live. Just a few minutes at a time. If that goes okay, we can all move on to the next few minutes and see where that takes us. If I think too much about the future I just get scared. I am scared I will run out of time. I am scared I will get trapped. I am scared I will invest a whole bunch of years and in the end be alone sobbing on my floor again. I am scared that my best is behind me. I am scared that I will ruin it all. But, for the next 10 minutes I am going to sing my doggie to sleep, rub her belly and kiss her goodnight. After that, I guess I will have to see...