Impossible Until It's Not

Cough, cough... it seems we are coming down with something here In the Writer's Closet. It's a good thing that I have plenty of photo shoots in store - I can still write and post, despite the illness.

Justin, Anya and I went to such an amazing performance last weekend that I simply wanted to let everyone who is local know - DO NOT MISS IT! The performance is by Hi-Liners, a unique youth theater located in Burien, WA. It's a truly amazing collective - both kids and educators are incredibly creative and talented, and what matters most, passionate about what they are doing.

 Hi-Liners have a few performances a year, divided by Downstage and Mainstage groups. In Downstage shows, everyone can perform - it is non-competitive, and right now they are getting ready to audition for their January show. Mainstage produces such gems as Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, a fantastic musical with humor, talent and energy which I rarely see even in professional theater - I mean, yes, there are some shows that have the same volcanic energy, but it is quite rare, and given that all the roles in this show are played by children (kids from 8 to 18, the oldest actor is 20), I'd say it is one of the very best performances I've ever seen, including professional theaters. I believe there will be two more weekends, so get yourself a ticket and watch this magical, hilarious and truly scrumptious show.

We took these photos before the performance started, in the historic (1924) high school courtyard. I am always taken with old buildings, they have such irreplaceable charm. I went to a very typical Soviet school, gray square building, nothing remarkable about it - we have 5 schools in the town where I grew up, and they all look exactly the same. I think the very first school was a little different, but not much. But then, it's a small and very young town, of the same age as me (aging noticeably better than me though). 

Photos above and below: 

The way I accessorized that evening...

...and the way the school is accessorized.

Amber bracelet, gift from friends 20 years ago.

The wooden earrings with amber (I wore them with the outfit from my previous post here.)

This old school reminded Justin of his high school, a beautiful brick building with a tower, built in 1934, which was demolished 75 years later because... it was too expensive to keep. And yes, we can always find just the right reasons to destroy something, or not even start building something. We can always find convenient inconveniences that prove that it's better to go an easy way. But the easy way is not better, it's just that - easy. Doesn't it make you want to scream at times the way people can think up side down, the way their priorities are up side down and inside out, and their decisions are based on those up side down priorities? The school that was literally a part of every family in Justin's little town, that hosted quite a few foreign students for whom it also held treasured memories, the school that still was in great shape, was demolished because it was inconvenient to keep?

I wrote a short essay in which I talk about people who go for their dreams despite their losses, doubts, uncertainties and let alone inconveniences (you can read the whole essay here), and I ask why. The answer to me is that some of us feel with every fiber of our being that this fire inside of us is the most precious thing we've got. Take the fire down, and we are nothing but an empty, lifeless shell. It saddens me to watch how people with that same precious fire decide to settle down, lead a quiet "sensible" life and let their fire die out. Fire is inconvenient to keep. It demands constant attention, constant work - the hardest kind of work, the inner kind. It makes one look for solutions rather than excuses, to dig out resources that are not obvious. That's when the ultimate creativity kicks in - the kind of creativity which helps us to build the amazing life that we want. It's that fire that makes us dream and desire, and go for the impossible... Just like a youth theater which takes on a task to create a show which will make the whole audience stand up with ovations. Or a group of caring people finding a creative solution to keep a beautiful historic building, rather than demolish it due to "inconveniences"... 

The impossible is only impossible until it is not. 

My accessories on a little wooden table hand painted by passionate Russian artisans (Khokhloma)

My outfit - Lane Bryant, different years

Purse - via TJ MAXX

Shoes - Josef Seibel

Amber bracelet - gift from friends in Russia

Linked up with 52 Pick-me-up: Amber. Passion

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