Dave and I attended Hale Theater for the first time in many years on January 29, 2024. Steve and Camille couldn't use their "Fiddler on the Roof" tickets and generously offered them to us.
We were thrilled with the fine singing, dancing, and acting. No matter how many times I watch Tevye asking God why he can't be a rich man, or listen to Golda answer Tevye's question, "Do you love me?", I ponder again the age-old questions of why we are assigned our own challenges by God and what love means in a marriage of many years.
A major theme of "Fiddler on the Roof" is how traditions hold families and communities together, and what happens when those traditions fray or are lost. Tevye compares his life to a fiddler on a roof, trying to balance while playing a song. Tradition stabilizes him in life's precarious positions. I thought of the traditions that stabilize my own family and my LDS community, and how hard it is for me to see those traditions change. Sunday dinners, family reunions, baby blessings and missionary letters, Christmas celebrations, Sunday School class discussions, Sacrament meetings, temple sessions, and ward parties are all traditions that help to stabilize me.
By chance, Dave and I met my hairdresser, Nancy Yearsley, and her roommate, Janet, at Fiddler on the Roof. Nancy has been fixing my hair for nearly 40 years, since I took Mike and Jonny with me to my appointments and Jonny crawled on the salon floor. Nancy has provided frank and sage advice on all my challenges, even though she has never met the perpetrators. "You need to get a new job," she told me one time. "Those men are not good to you or for you." She was absolutely right! Visiting Nancy every month for a chat and a haircut is one of the traditions that stabilizes me.
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment