Update On Joanne

In November, I will be doing another play. This one is called “Some Assembly Required”. It’s about a dysfunctional family that gets together at Christmas time and tries to sort out some issues from the past. The title refers to an old artificial Christmas tree that has to be assembled by hand and is done by way of colors on the ends of the branches and there are different color coded branches. The biggest branches have one color and the smaller ones have others so that the tree will look the same every year. The problem is that after so many years, the colors have all worn off the ends and it becomes more difficult to put the tree back together as we once remembered it. So the tree may and does end up looking somewhat askew.

We all come home and some of us isolate ourselves and slowly, we start to talk to one another. We start to sort things out, sometimes in anger with harsh words and sometimes in frustration at not knowing how we fit together now as a family because again, the familiar colors from our past have started to wear off and our family, when assembled, may not look or feel quite the same as it once did. The point is that we do come together, and we do try with each other and even though things are a bit askew, like the tree, we put things together and we are still a family that has at it’s roots, a great deal of genuine love for one another.

From time to time, we need to assemble. We need to be together and to be reminded of where we come from so that we may better see where it is we are going. The branches of our family tree are here. And some of them are missing and it won’t look the same as it once did. But we are and will remain a Family.

I will dedicate my performance in November to Joanne for she is what family means to me and she has shown us how to come together and she will help us to re assemble ourselves and our lives in the most loving and appropriate ways. I will leave you with a Quote from Pope John-Paul II which has been a great comfort to me since he went home to the Lord and I think Joanne would like it.

“Have no fear of moving into the unknown
Simply step out fearlessly
Knowing that I am with you
Therefore, No harm can befall you
All is very, very well.
Do this in complete faith and confidence.”

My unending Love and Peace and Prayers to each of you.