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Hans Christian Andersen

In 1981, when the Middle School, where I had taught 6th grade, asked me to be in their musical play, “Hans Christian Andersen” as the lead character, I was a little hesitant. First, I had never acted in a play before, even as a child,  or performed in front of a large audience. My biggest audiences were usually with my class or grade level. Second, though I still worked in the same district, I was now teaching in a different school, meaning that between rehearsals and performances, it would take a bit of scheduling and a lot of time to accomplish. It would also mean that I had to shave (I had had a beard for 7 years at that point) since Hans Christian Andersen didn’t have a beard or mustache.  But I did like to sing and I really loved the movie “Hans Christian Andersen” that starred Danny Kaye, in the lead role, which was what the play was based on. So I decided to do it.

You can listen to an old recording of me singing part of one of the songs in the play, here (you might want to turn your volume down a little): http://goo.gl/7TBQi4

When I performed for the first time I was enthralled. I could not believe the rapt attention that I received from the audience. My sister was in the audience for my first performance and had someone pass up a bouquet of flowers to me. I took the flowers, because they were handed to me, but couldn’t figure out who they were for. I’ve since learned.

Because of the role I played and the reaction I got, I became fascinated with the art of storytelling and began researching storytelling. I got permission from my district to attend the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee, the following October, in order to further my research and on my return decided to make storytelling a part of my curriculum. You can read how I started storytelling in my class and its outcome in one of my older blogs (http://www.hdhstory.net/Storyblog/?p=24).

Needless to say I became hooked and have been telling stories ever since. You’ll find a lot of entries throughout this blog about the art of storytelling. Just click on the Categories drop down menu and choose one of the storytelling options.

In looking back, I find it  interesting that in all my storytelling performances both in my class, my school and in the outside world, I have never performed a story by Hans Christian Andersen other than when I performed them in the middle school play in 1981. Someday might add some to my repertoire. After all Hans was the one that started me.

England

I’m not what one would consider a world traveler. In fact, the first time I ever flew in an airplane I was almost 30 years old. For me, my first flight was a 6 hour one across the Atlantic from New York to England.

I was a teacher in the Shoreham-Wading River School District on Long Island. The middle school band had been invited to visit a band in England. I was one of the chaperones for that trip. The trip would take place over the summer in 1980 when school was not in session. Because of the timing, not everyone in the band could attend. In fact, they were desperately short of saxophone players. To make up for their deficiency, they imported some high school players, the assistant band director and me to fill in those spots. You should know that up until that point I had never played the saxophone. I did have enough time before we went to at least learn enough to play the pieces that we would be performing there. I haven’t played the saxophone since.

We would be in England for a week. The first part of the week we would stay with families in Mansfield which is in the county of Nottinghamshire (Yay Robin Hood!) and the remaining time would be spent in London. London, for its historical value, was interesting, but my favorite times were with the people and the things we saw in Nottinghamshire.

The band we stayed with was the Coronets Marching Kazoo Band. If you’ve never seen or heard a marching kazoo band, it’s pretty impressive.

I was so inspired by the band that I bought my own marching kazoo. But then again I do tend to play an odd assortment of instruments.

The people there were exceedingly friendly. They had learned ahead of time some of my idiosyncrasies. With my habit of picking up people’s accents and way of talking, they constantly asked me to repeat some English phrases in their dialect. They also kept giving me weird objects, like stove hoses, and asked me if I could make music out of them. They shared a lot of their culture with all of us. I even got to wear one of their marching hats:

I’m glad I chose to be part of that trip. It was one of the most calming and peaceful experiences in my life.  At least the first half was. I kept in touch with some of the people there for a few years and I still continue to play with voices and weird instruments.

I have flown more times since then (feel free to read my Blog entry about my 14 hour experience from Long Island to Jonesborough, Tennessee http://www.hdhstory.net/Storyblog/?p=50) but never back to Europe. Who knows, with a brother living in France I might have to venture again into the skies across the Atlantic. Time will tell.

David

Having a child definitely promotes a life change. From the day I met Christina, continuing to when David was born, to the present we were now an us, no longer an I. It’s been a great ride so far.

David learned to talk early and a lot. Reading to him, telling him stories and as he grew older having discussions with him on all sorts of topics was the norm. We were there to support him in all his wants and needs. Like all parents and children, it wasn’t always perfect. I am the calmer one in the family and he always pointed out that I didn’t react fast enough when he got hurt. I just didn’t want to worry him. But try and explain that to a child. I’m sure there are more things we disagree upon that he can enumerate on. We still remain a strong family unit.

For the most part, we were and are sort of a team. We even named ourselves at one point. He was Detective Shaunk and was his assistant Hinches. I involved myself in things that he did (I tried to read all the books that he was reading in school, get involved with his game play, and follow a lot of his conversations that even for me were over my head) and he found things that I was doing that he involved himself with (soccer, though he didn’t completely care for it, playing musical instruments, science fiction/fantasy).

He and Christina had their own team and the three of us were yet another.

I tried to guide him with advice about the ways of the world from my many years of experience. He, in turn, tried to guide me as to the reality of the world through his teen and young adulthood’s framework of life. We learned to accept and tolerate each other’s perspectives.

Moving off to college didn’t change our relationship. David continued to call us and have chats with us frequently. He had grown into an independent man. It took him only a week to find Lara, his future wife, whom he is planning to marry this May. Both he and Lara have visited us, gone places together with us, and we also became good friends with her parents. The only thing separating us is two states (we on Long Island, NY and they in Massachusetts). With wedding plans and a new life in store for him the calls and visits are fewer as he does have a new teammate:

But we still remain there in all our team guises for support and love and hope to continue to be a part of both their lives as all of us continue to grow.

When you look at life’s choices and changes, one of the most profound and influencing choice I ever made was to share my life with Christina.

I fell in like with her the first time I saw her on the dance floor. I danced with her once or twice and figured that I would see her at the next dance. That didn’t happen at the time. It was at a party at one of her housemates house right after Hurricane Gloria that I found her again. We danced together most of the night. We kissed goodbye at the end of the evening and I got her phone number.

For one who hates to make phone calls, I actually decided to call her up and she was there. Either that or she called me, which if it didn’t happen the first time, certainly happened the next. Over the next few weeks my like fell into love.

We began to see each other more often. We’d meet after my classes at Suffolk Community College at Friendly’s and other places. We would go for walks through Port Jefferson. And at dances, well, I had a partner now. I even got to meet her mother when she came to visit. Things were good.

We enjoyed the times we spent with each other. We led busy lives. I was a full-time teacher and she was working on getting her PhD. She moved in with me and 2 years later she accepted my proposal;  we were married and she got her doctorate.

You can read some of my writings about how we met at: http://www.hdhstory.net/Storyblog/?p=384 and http://www.hdhstory.net/Storyblog/?p=402.

Christina has known me now for over half her life. I still have a few years to go to reach that time frame. She is my friend, my lover, my confidant, my support, my critic and buys me great clothes. If I were to change anything about our relationship, I would wish that it had started earlier. As I sign all of my birthday, valentine’s day, mother’s day and anniversary cards to her… Love always. h