Remember Me and Diana Ross

newyorktheater.com

If you would have asked anyone back in the old days, say in my twenties, is Gina a spontaneous person? They would have replied, “Oh yeah! Hell, yes! She is!!!”

Being spontaneous seemed automatic, something I was compelled to be, and I valued it about myself. I was that, adventurous, and carefree, too.

Fast forward through my adulthood.

If you asked anyone now who has known me over the last twenty years, or so, that very same question, they would reply, “Well yes, sometimes she can be.”

What happened? Where did that person go? Why did she stop being that way?

There is a simple answer. She made some choices along the way.

There have been more “I wish I could…” “I would have liked to…” “Darn it, I missed the opportunity to…” than I can possibly count on my fingers and toes combined with yours. In my mind, I actively traded spontaneity to marry a fantastically fun and wonderful man, have two children, and raise them as best as we could. All noble and satisfying, yet intensely time consuming pursuits, marriage and childrearing, that I wouldn’t trade for the anything. I don't look back with any regret.

It's called compromise, which I also fondly labeled "you can’t have everything" syndrome.

And even now, with my children currently away at school, and the rather long leash my husband provides for me to pursue my personal interests, the opportunities for spontaneity don’t come along as regularly as they used to, should, or at least as often as I would like. 

That is until I found myself walking with a friend down the streets of Chicago’s theater district last week. Up on the giant, mesmerizing marquee of the historic Chicago Theater was:

[blink, blink, blink]

TONIGHT

DIANA ROSS

[blink, blink, blink]

“This is the first concert I EVER saw back in 19XX,” I wistfully reminisced. (Yeah, I’m not going to mention the year except to say I was in 8^th grade.)

“Let’s go. We should go. What do you have to do tonight anyway?” my friend immediately said.

“Nothing. I have nothing really to do tonight.”

So we pushed through the entusiastic crowd milling around the street front, slapped down our credit cards, and bought the last two best seats in the house. Only thing left to do was compose a text to “home” to explain where I was, and what I was doing. It went something like this:

“Guess what I’m doing tonight?”

“Going out to dinner with me?”

“NO! I’m going to see DIANA ROSS!!!”

“Huh? Why?”

“Because I LOVE her!!!"

"I didn't know that."

"Of course, I do! I’ll send you pictures!”

So from the first row center in the balcony, I danced and sang at the top of my lungs without stopping because I knew all of her songs. I always had. She changed her outfit four times, which she always had.

And I longed for the concert to go on forever because I felt a little bit more like the real me than I had in a long time, if only for one night.

**************************

Some of my favorite songs:

 “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”, “Reach Out and Touch (Somebody’s Hand)”, “Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You’re Going To)”, “Love Child”, “Upside Down”, “Love Hangover.”

"Remember Me"

Bye baby, see you around

Didn't I tell you I wouldn't hold you down

Take good care of yourself, y'hear

Don't let me hear about you shedding a tear

You're gonna make it

You're gonna take it

Remember me as a sunny day

That you once had, along the way

Didn't I inspire you a little higher

Remember me as a funny clown

That made you laugh when you were down

Didn't I boy, didn't I boy

Remember me as a big balloon

At a carnaval that ended too soon

Remember me as a breath of spring
Remember me as a good thing