memory

Last Saturday night, Jose and I saw Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Cats. As a child, my parents took me to see these Jellicle Cats perform when we lived outside Chicago. I was a mere 9-12 years old (wow!). I remember it being just before Christmas - might have been Christmas Eve because I distinctly remember coming home and our Christmas morning was celebrated that night due to a trip back home to Cincinnati the very next morning. That evening with my parents is a fond memory of mine. I remember going into the city, catching a cab ride, seeing the musical, and even losing my blanket on the streets of Chicago. But dad convinced the cab driver to drive around the block to see where I had dropped it. In hopes we'd locate it. Luckily, it was still lying on the cold winter street waiting for my return.

I was engrossed by Cats. I learned that the stage was built at an incline so the performers could jump through the air and achieve their acrobatic maneuvers more easily, and as I remember the most about Cats, the stunning performance of Memory. Such a breathtakingly sad moment of the musical.

Now I have a new memory of Cats. I love musicals and I always enjoy the musicality and performance of such, but this time Cats was, well, kinda boring. I realize now that Cats has no plot. No story. Just a bunch of people dressed in cat-like costumes, pretending to lick and clean themselves and then bust out in song for no aparent reason at all. Albeit there were funny moments and entertaining parts that still caught my attention. The performance of Memory is still to die-for. Once again, it was a beautiful performance and still remains the highlight of the show. It’s still a wonderful memory for me and always will be.

The fondest memory of the evening was spending it with my well-groomed son (he does clean up well) and the company we kept. We all had a lot of much-needed fun!

[And thanks to mom for babysitting Cameron while I made a memory with Jose like the one they made with me – xoxo!]