rehearsal life.

The world shrinks to a tiny bubble when you're in rehearsals.

World events, friends, family, all take a backseat to the microcosm of what goes on 8 hours a day, six days a week in a room that's almost always too something: too hot, too cold, too small...

Faced with a particularly challenging play I've tucked myself away from the world until the time when I'll be spat out (hopefully not too chewed up!) at the end of this gong-show process. I had a strangely nice 2 days in Kelowna- not the deathbed vigil I'd feared, but a 2-day whirl of beaches, sun, step-nieces and nephews; bonding with step-family and seeing my stepmom enjoying life while she still can. Then, feeling slightly guilty for missing a rehearsal day, I stepped onto a plane and 40 minutes later was back in Vancouver and sucked back into the hermetically sealed bubble that is rehearsal life.

Today, covered with a stinky mist of sweat and dust I threw in some laundry and raced to Trout Lake with only an hour or so left before sundown. Bliss! Can't believe I haven't swum there since I was dating someone else light years ago and I went in the water and came out with every hair on my body covered in green algae. Ok, well maybe I can believe it. But this time the water was soft, cool, and inviting, and pleasantly low-algae. I paddled around in my Crocs and bathing suit, watching the sun setting over this small-ish park only blocks away from me, surrounded by the urgency and urban-ness of East Van, and couldn't believe my luck. The stress of the had day slipped away altogether by the time I headed home, soggy and content.