Wilde Thing

This morning*, seemingly out of nowhere, "In the Air Tonight" popped into my head. My big head. I haven't heard or thought about that song in ages -- though, admittedly, it's a guilty pleasure -- but when I started singing it aloud to Louie I realized why it was there.

I've been waiting for this moment for all my life ...

Last night I experienced said moment.

My beautiful (and only) mother was an actress in the '60s -- and a really good one, at that, according to every review I've come across. She worked in theater and one of her favorite roles was Gwendolyn Fairfax in The Importance of Being Earnest. I'm probably getting the chronology all wrong but I think the following year, the theater produced Earnest in Love, which is a dare-I-say delightful musical version of the play. One song in particular stuck with my mum, and she sang it to me (and Jules) when we were tiny girls. We learned it, and we'd all sing it together -- and continue to.

Last night, my mom and I went to see a production of Earnest in Love at the Irish Repertory Theatre. There was much anticipation -- would the song be the same as she'd remembered it for almost 50 years? Would we be able to resist the urge to sing along? Would I cry? Okay -- we knew the answers to the second two would be yes and yes, respectively. Turns out it's the closing song and it was almost exactly as we'd been singing it. It was so sweet and such a full-circle moment -- but my being the most sentimental person in my immediate family (sister notwithstanding but she's at Sundance so we haven't spoken about it), I doubt much further discussion will ensue. So here is the moment, recorded for posterity. And here are the lyrics -- Leonard Cohen it isn't, but in context, to me, it's as meaningful:

The skies are blue
The grass is ever so much greener
Not a cloud in the heavens above
As for you, my dear,
There's sparkle in your whole demeanor**
Just because you are earnest in love.

No matter where you go
You'll find a rainbow right before you
In the air is the song of a dove
Because your love is there
To worship, honor and adore you
Just because you are earnest in love.

*I wrote this on Thursday morning

**somewhere along the line my warped mind had transformed this to, "There's sparkle in your misdemeanor."