2011 - A Wonderful Life and Time...

“Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind ?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and auld lang syne?”  ~ Robert Burns

So.  As the festivities of another holiday season begin to fade into the past I find myself wondering at the little quirks of life and time.  Some years pass with a sort of routine amount of business and activity - some highlights, some low moments - and then other years seem packed with one interesting, exciting, challenging or pivotal moment after another.

2011 was an eventful year.

In 2011 no fewer than five people in my family (including Cristina and myself) lost their jobs.  Some due to the odd swings of our current economy.  Others due to the seeming callousness and carelessness of our political leaders.  Either way, it caused many of us to re-think our directions in life.

Cristina found a job that she likes very much at the newly opened Legoland - with help from the state of Florida I might add.  I myself took advantage of my forced job change to do the work I was trained to do decades ago and perhaps should have been doing all along and became a faculty member at Polk State College, teaching Theatre and Humanities.  It has been a rough transition in many ways, but the work is good.

2011 blessed us with great theatre opportunities.  In the winter I played Captain von Trapp in The Sound of Music and in the summer Juan Peron in Evita.  Both plays were extremely well received and The Sound of Music was so popular that several performances were added.  Cristina had fun helping the cast do The Full Monty in the fall.  At Christmas time I had the pleasure to direct a fantastic cast and crew in a challenging production of It’s a Wonderful Life.  The show was huge for a non-musical with over 65 cast and crew who pulled together to create a beautiful piece of theatre and present it to sold out houses.  I couldn’t have been more proud of the people who made It’s a Wonderful Life happen.  These shows were all performed at one of the finest theatres of any kind, any where - Theatre Winter Haven.

In 2011 I got a bit older.  Lost some weight.  Gained some of it back.  Made some great new friends and grew closer to some old ones.  And said good-bye - or at least “see you later” - to a few.  I watched some of my children grow into adults, one grow taller by the day and one of them grow from a baby into a little boy who reminds me every day how precious and wonderful life and time really are.  And I grew to love them all even more.  Especially my wife, Cristina.

I’m not a regular blogger.  I wish I was.  But the procrastinator in me always finds a way to spoil those wishes.  So, instead I seem to find time and inclination to write about specific events or occasions.  On the occasion of this change of year I just wanted to remind myself once again, that somehow Faith and Love, and in my case a little theatre, do make a wonderful life.

“For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.”

2009 - The Wild Ride

As we begin the new year - 2010. I feel the need to look back on the year past. Many people are spending time dwelling on the passing of a decade, and I also have mixed feelings about the first ten years of the 21st century, but I want to give 2009 its due.

In a life which is quickly counting down the months to a half century, I can think of few years that rival 2009 for sheer roller coaster ferocity.

As the world at large suffered under the weight of an economy in spiral, so my small piece of the world was under economic siege. At this time last year, the small company I work for was facing hard choices. We had some work, but poor cash flow. My brother Craig, our co-worker Brian and I all work for a gentleman named Charlie Strange.

Charlie, whose literary ancestor would have to be Mr. Fezziwig from A Christmas Carol, put a lot of his own money and effort into keeping us afloat through the crisis.

Small businesses survive when they are led by people who put loyalty before fear and look toward the future instead of wallowing in the present. A total team effort is also required. Thanks Craig and Brian. Thanks Charlie. (Oh, and thanks to Charlie's wife Leslie too.)

In spite of the flow of macro and micro economics, life goes on. My family was busy with school and work and our theatre activities throughout the year. I performed in two musicals, Kiss Me Kate and Gypsy at Theatre Winter Haven. My daughter, Roxanne, turned 18, graduated from high school and started college all this year. My daughter Audrey turned 16 and is ready to follow her sister to college and beyond. My son Marcus turned 13 and gave us the distinction of being a three teen family. My wife Cristina finished her first year of teaching drama at Jewett School of the Arts and taught in two different theatre summer camps, directed three shows and helped stage manage the aforementioned musicals.

These would have been normal happenings in one of our crazy years, but for the surprises in 2009.

The first surprise...

On March 18, barely six months after his diagnosis, my father, Dr. James E. Hartfield, Jr., passed away. Our entire family, including children and grand children were present with him when he passed. We held a memorial in April. He was 73.

Many families have a patriarch who provides a sense of stability and security for all members of the family. My father was such a man. Just knowing he was there made us feel safe. There is no replacing him.

But he would be the first to want us to keep on going and helping and loving each other. And so we do.

The second surprise...

Roxanne graduated from Harrison School of the Arts on June 3rd. On June 4th, Cristina went to an annual doctor's appointment and came home with the news that she was pregnant. Almost five months pregnant. She thought she was putting on a little weight.

Now, we had been told about six years ago, by doctors who are supposed to know, that we would have a very hard time conceiving a child. So, after ten years of marriage we had accepted that we would have no children together.

On October 27th, after about eight hours of labor, Taylor David Hartfield was born.

Taylor is happy and healthy. Tall and thin (much like his granddaddy Hartfield). And much beloved by all of our family and extended family.

Needless to say, all of the normal events of our lives were effected by this "changing of the guard" in our family. My father left us, but did not leave us short-handed.

The adventures of our year served to remind me of the importance of all of our families. The one we inherit by birth and the ones we adopt along the way. All of our "families" helped us get through the adventures of 2009 and shared the joys and sorrows with us.

I think often of the saying, "Man proposes, God disposes." And God changed our plans in a big way in 2009. But as usual, He provided us with what we needed to persevere. And even strengthen our ties to Him and each other.

So, the question as we enter 2010 and a new decade is this...

What next? What's in store in 2010?

After 2009, I think we can handle it.

With a little help from our faith, our family and our friends.

- Mark

911 Musings

My daughter turned eight years old on September 11th, 2001. I remember planning to have a small, family party at home that night as I watched the towers fall and heroes die and evil have a field day. I remember thinking that my daughter's birthday would be forever tainted by the collective memory of that day. That night we turned off the televisions and radios and celebrated the life of a little girl.

As my daughter turns fourteen today I am struck with how the world has changed, in both good and not-so-good ways, in the few years since she blew out the eight candles. I get angry when I think of all of the senseless death caused by people who chose to believe the propaganda of negativity provided by the radicals who designed a way to spectacularly kill human beings. I am saddened by the resulting war which has become so much a part of the lives of people in many countries that we will never fully recover from it's effects. I feel a sense of loss for the innocence of children everywhere growing up in the "Age of Terror".

Then I look at my daughter's face. And that of her brother and sister. And my wife and friends and family. And I remember where those faces came from. They were not a product of war or hatred or zealotry or greed.They were a product of love.

There is a great British film called, "Love Actually" that was played this afternoon on the USA network that has these words as its opening voiceover:

"Whenever I get gloomy about the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrowe Aiport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed - but I don't see that. Seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it's not particularly dignified, or newsworthy - but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends and girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaking feeling you'll find that love actually is all around."

So, at the end of this day, I prefer to remember and celebrate the life of that little girl... and all the love that surrounds her.

- Mark