THANK YOU, 2020:

Final writing session of 2020!

I type from 2020’s final sunrise – still wide awake after 7AM, setting 2021 deadlines for songs and comic book scripts – more aware of my “survival” at year-end than ever before: I move my arms to spread the “wings” of my shadow, existence itself so intoxicating in these final dark moments I could swear I’m being given a fleeting glimpse into immortality.

…Or it’s just the lingering influence of Peter Pan:

2020’s final midnight found Jon and me mere moments into a recording of Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s (2018) production of Peter Pan: A Musical Adventure – (with a Company that, coincidentally, features multiple voices from Sarah and the Seed’s recent demo release!).

A midweek midnight production of a musical intended for young audiences, shot two summers ago (coincidentally, around the time of this website’s launch): 296 days since my last live theater experience, the disconnect I feel from my live theater love is palpable.

Also more than a year from my last swim, my last hug from a blood relative, in a lot of ways, I don’t recognize my body from this time last year…

2020 unlocked me – literally: I began the year unsure if I’d walk without a cane again – and celebrated a return to double pirouettes and pointe shoes (after 23 years) by summertime – my progress shared in the social media “story” of a New York City Ballet Principal Dancer (?!).

…Balanced out by a brutal (second!?) bout of Lyme Disease.

2020 forced a lot of fear into productivity with few f*cks given, a lot of past failures piled up to reach present-tense success (plus a discovery of synesthesia — more on that in a forthcoming article!).

For as far as I’ve been from my family, geographically, Christmas Eve led to the first conversation I’ve shared with my parents and brother since 2008 – the summer following my first year of law school, newly engaged to my now-ex-husband (then-and-now a wonderful human).

Coincidentally, Jon proposed the first midnight of 2020 – an orange bauble gifted from the legendary Lin Tucci used to commemorate the occasion:

I started the year, and will now end it, with a partner who supports my humble music-making, and look forward to introducing the songs of HORSE MIGHT SING in the years to come.

A lot can happen in a year…