Me & Shakespeare
July 17, 2009
Okay. I admit it. I never studied Shakespeare. I’m not sure if I should be relieved or resentful that my Appalachademic education fell short in this major corner of the literature world.
But since you can’t miss what you never had, I don’t feel too awful about it, usually. But this past weekend, I was reminded that, once again, my enthusiasm has a way of carrying me beyond my rank. I went with my daughter and a few friends to watch a local performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It was an idyllic setting; in an outdoor seaside amphitheater, over which the sun was setting on a breath-taking summer Sunday. We also brought a picnic supper. How good could life get?
Looking back I see that my main reason for going was mostly based on these past few features but I also hoped that I’d somehow, understand Shakespeare THIS time. I could already hear myself the next day, dropping Shakespeare’s name into any and all conversations. Earlier last week, when I saw the listing for this performance in the newspaper, having seen the movie The Secret one too many times, I guess I thought the Planets were finally aligning so that I could sync up with Shakespeare. This time, I thought to myself, it was Meant To Be (or not be, I quickly discovered).
In a similar fashion, every ten years or so, I taste an olive to confirm that I still hate them, even though my sophisticated friends adore them and I’ve come to accept this about myself, that my tastes run more towards canned mushrooms than Provencal tapenade. I’m okay with that, I really am.
And News Flash-I still don’t get Shakespeare. Nor, if I’m completely honest with you, do I even want to get Shakespeare. In spite of the fact that my favorite fellow spin teacher memorized Hamlet as well as A Midsummer Night’s Dream and can recite them verbatim and despite the other fact that my best email pen-pal George can whip himself into such a frenzied whirly-gig about this poet that his eyes spin in his head like an old-fashioned cartoon character that’s been konked on the head with a sledgehammer. He’s even tried, GodBlesshim, to give me the crash course in Shakespeare for Dummies. But I still.
Didn’t. Get. It.
It gets worse. I realized on our drive home (after we ditched my friend during the intermission when she was at the porta-potties. Alas! This blessed plot. Methinks I dare not stay for mine death draws ever closer!) As I drove home that night I saw myself in the glaring light of what my authentic self truly is at it’s core. A William….. Farrell fan. Yes, folks, Ricky Bobby can make my heart sing! I GET Will Farrell! I’ve never watched a Will Farrell movie yet that I had to lean over to my husband and say, “I don’t get it. What just happened?”
Nome sayin?
Dr. Mehmet Oz and Dr Judith Wright say that we all can benefit from creating a vision of the life we want and this means finding out what really makes our hearts sing and doing it. Rather than spending your time eating olives, we can all benefit from really feeling our feelings and honoring them. This means getting up in the morning and putting on what YOU want to wear. It means being less cool and instead being more REAL, even if it means never seeing another Shakespearean play again.
So! In my attempt to be daringly REAL and present with what authentically rings true for me I’ve compiled a list of
MY IDEA OF WHAT SHAKESPEARE MEANT
WHAT SHAKESPEARE SAID “When sorrows come, they come not single spies”
WHAT SHAKESPEARE MEANT If you lay down with the dogs, you git up with fleas
WHAT SHAKESPEARE SAID “All that glitters is not gold”
WHAT SHAKESPEARE MEANT Ya can’t judge a book by it’s cover
WHAT SHAKESPEARE SAID “All the world’s a stage”
WHAT SHAKESPEARE MEANT Fake it til you make it
WHAT SHAKESPEARE SAID “To be or not to be, That is the question”
WHAT SHAKESPEARE MEANT If you can’t stand the heat, git outta the kitchen
WHAT SHAKESPEARE SAID “The lady doth protest too much me thinks”
WHAT SHAKESPEARE MEANT Something smells fishy
WHAT SHAKESPEARE SAID “Ere, he by sickness had been visited”
WHAT SHAKESPEARE MEANT Talking to Ralph on the Big White Telephone
WHAT SHAKESPEARE SAID “Lord, What Fools these mortals be”
WHAT SHAKESPEARE MEANT He seems a few sandwiches short of a picnic
WHAT SHAKESPEARE SAID “Love look not with the eyes but with the mind”
WHAT SHAKESPEARE MEANT I’ve seen better lookin legs on a table
WHAT SHAKESPEARE SAID “These above all, To thine own self be true”
WHAT SHAKESPEARE MEANT Go ahead.March to the beat of a different drummer
WHAT SHAKESPEARE SAID “Good Night! Good Night! Parting is such sweet sorrow”
WHAT SHAKESPEARE MEANT You take care now. Absence makes the heart grow fonder
WHAT SHAKESPEARE SAID “Et tu, Brute?”
WHAT SHAKESPEARE MEANT Well this is a fine how do you do
WHAT SHAKESPEARE SAID “Adieu! Tears exhibit my tongue. Almost beautiful”
WHAT SHAKESPEARE MEANT Here’s your hat. What’s your hurry
WHAT SHAKESPEARE SAID “Take thou thy pound of flesh”
WHAT SHAKESPEARE MEANT I’m gonna get my clock cleaned
WHAT SHAKESPEARE SAID “Farewell! God knows when we shall meet again!”
WHAT SHAKESPEARE MEANT Whee Doggies! Outta sight, outta mind.
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