I had a magical and somewhat mystical experience last night. W and I went to watch S12's school play, and this was NOT the average school play. It was called "Big Rock", and was written, produced and directed by 3 of the teachers at the school. I think they should win an award for this one. The entire school was involved, all classes from Kindergarten through 8th Grade. The story revolved around a farmer and his wife - he's a bit of a dreamer and stargazer, and she's too wrapped up in her housework to stop and smell the flowers. One day he's out plowing his field (and grooving to his own internal music while doing so) and he runs into a huge rock that wasn't there before. It apparently dropped from the sky. It's so big it can't be moved, even with the help of the other farmers. Soon he discovers it talks to him, and nobody else can hear it. Being a very well-differentiated fellow, he knows what he's experiencing, and he holds onto himself in the face of ridicule from everyone else. At one point the rock (which is from a planet called Carpedeum) explains to him about extremes, and about balance. This takes the form of an amazing bit of video that simulates a space voyage from earth way out beyond the nebulae, beyond the Milky Way and into the extreme void beyond the galaxies. I have NO idea where they got that video, but that alone was worth the price of admission. Also, the young boy who played the Rock (we only see his face) was himself a shining example of differentiation - he sang a song he had written himself about "Those Stars Out There", which was strange and beautiful, and he sang it without accompaniment.
The main message of the play was "Slow down, stop and smell the flowers", but it had so many levels, many of them very Scnarchian in tone. I was transfixed. At several points I had to fight the urge to cry, it was so beautiful. They had been working on it for several months. The design of it was deceptively simple, as between the dialog there were a number of what amounted to "dance numbers", each of which involved one or two classes, but each of which advanced the overall story in a fantastic and beautiful way. The best part about it is that they recorded the whole thing and are making it available on both VHS and DVD.
The new part of my tag line is a quote that appears on the program.
Afterwards, when W and I were watching TV, we had the best cuddling so far! It was very erotic, for me at least, and I could feel the emotional connection between us reaching a new level. I also increased my "cuddling" into the territory of "Touching with intent to arouse", and I know she was at least mildly aroused by my touch. This also led to a more-than-usually arousing cuddling and kissing session in bed just before going to sleep. I think this evening I might just make a move to initiate...
