Page 19 - LIfesOuttakes1

New Years’ Resolutions l It’s that time of year when all of my friends are making their New Year resolutions. Most of them are ridiculous and totally unreasonable, like never falling asleep in church, or reading the whole book of Gone With The Wind in under 12 months. As for me, I am more of a realist. I like to choose goals that I am sure I can obtain. “Honey,” I commented to my wife, as I was listing my New Year goals, “I think I will not smoke or drink this year.” “But you don’t smoke or drink, now,” she replied. “I know that,” I told her. But there is another goal that I have decided I must take on - one that I know will tax my limited abilities. My determination is fixed and my resolve is set. It all started back when my wife and I were asked to co-direct a community theatre production. We went to meet with the other husband- wife team, with whom we would be working, whom I will call John and Mary. We had finished tryouts and had the regular people show up. Most of the parts were filled, but we still had a lead male adult role we could not find a person for. We decided we would look at the tape from the production the year before and see if there was anyone we could coerce into joining our cast. That production the year before had been my first experience with theater. I, myself, had been coerced into making a fool of myself on stage in front of thousands of people, instead of the way I normally do it in life - in front of a few people at a time. Anyway, we started watching the tape. As I marched onto stage on 14