Homesick

Busy weekend in Barford …

Thursday: Saw an amazing production of Love’s Labours Lost on Thursday night, at the Royal Shakespeare Company, with the very dishy David Tennant as Berowne. This production reminded me why I love, love, love Shakespeare. And, why I love, love, love David Tennant.

Friday: The big Claridge’s culinary evening at Stratford. We had a super time. I have decided that we need to add a new word to the English language - we need a term for the food equivalent of a hangover. I guess we could say “food hangover.” Well, whatever you call it, that’s what I had. After all that rich food and drink (braised lamb, champagne sorbet, foie gras, cognac and wine with each course) the next day my body felt like my blood was made of treacle/syrup. I couldn’t move. Thankfully, the D.E.B. and I –and our “mates” (Tabitha & Andy and Fiona & Gavin) had all arranged to stay overnight at The Stratford. So we all limped back to the “Strat” and amazingly managed a nightcap before collapsing comatose in our rooms.

Saturday: Even after a Full English Breakfast around noon, I still felt like I was going to die. D.E.B. and I went and collected the Princess Puppy from her overnight stay with our friends, Ewan and Melissa, and their two adorable angel-children, Hannah and Rachel. Came home and crashed. We woke around 7:00 PM, exhausted and STILL “food hungover.” We make a valiant effort to go to Sainsbury’s to gather sensible food, all attempts fail, when I realize and declare that the only real cure to a food hangover is Kentucky Fried Chicken. And I was right. (Just need to add that the thought, let alone the actual sight of a gorgeous English Boy holding a bucket of chicken is enough to make any Southern girl weep for joy.)

Sunday: Panic setting in. Clock running out on prep time for my “Midsummer Night’s Dream Lecture” on Tuesday morning. Too tired to work, want to spend un-comatosed day with D.E.B. Make vain attempt to look like I’m working. Too distracted by D.E.B.’s cute-ness and Classic FM. In the afternoon, 3 PM - off to Newbold Comyn where D.E.B. is performing at a Charity event, “Ramble for Ruby” a benefit for 13 year old Ruby, who has cancer. Sunday evening, back to Stratford College for Diane Ponzio concert.

Diane Ponzio is fabulous! She has this incredible gift of making each person in her audience feel like she is singing to/for them. And she never forgets a face/name. It was so good to hear her last night. She’s a proud, Italian, New Yorker. That accent. It’s been a while since I’ve heard it. But, It didn’t make me feel sad, it made me feel proud. The D.E.B. is a huge Diane Ponzio fan, and the feeling seems mutual. She gave him a huge hug, and let him have a go on her priceless, mahogany Martin guitar. She hugged me, and said: “You did it!”

Diane and I had spoken on the phone while I was still living in NYC. Oddly, though I’d never met her, during our phone call, I felt that I knew her. That she was someone I could confide in and lean on. I’d told her about my then dilemma (soon to be plans) about leaving NYC, leaving NYU to join the D.E.B. in England. “Honey. Do it.” She’d said in that warm, comforting voice. “Do it. He’s a doll. And love is all we got. The rest is just illusion.” There are conversations that change us, and this was one of them for me.

Seeing Diane last night, all I could do was hug her and say, “Thank you.” “Why are you thanking me,” she smiled, “you did it.” With a twinkle in her eye, she teased me: “You homesick? Of course you’re not, you got your 'home' right here next to ya.”