Summer Days Driftin' Away. . .

Summer days are drifting away, and in just two weeks, this wonderful chapter in New York will end, and I'll begin where I left off in Boston. Just two weeks!

Are you as surprised as I was by that bit of news? (Carried away by the thrill of this new experience, I somehow forgot that even new experiences slip into the realm of routine and eventually come to a close. . .)

The realization set in as I was paying my rent. "I'd like to pay for the next two weeks," I said. Then I thought, "Wait. . .two weeks are all I have left!" As the sister across from me made good-natured small talk and tallied up my rent with her paper-and-pencil spreadsheet, my mind wandered back to the first time I entered the CM Residence. What was a novelty then has become a home now, and although I'm excited to return to Boston, I'll be sad to leave my nuns behind. (Maybe I can find some nuns in Boston and convince them to befriend a Mormon girl?)

It's also been difficult saying goodbye to my piano students (they've made wonderful progress!) and the Sweet Soul kids too. I know I had at least as much fun at that Sweet Soul Performing Arts Camp as the campers did themselves! I mean, hey--I got paid to visit all sorts of New York landmarks (the Madame Alexander Doll Museum, a famous jazz club in Harlem, Pier 17). How many people get paid to go sightseeing?

I also got to work with seasoned Broadway performers, professional filmographers, and successful singer-songwriters, and I had one of my own musicals performed by the most creative, enthusiastic group of kids I've ever met. Best of all, I got to meet and learn to love each of the children. I had an especially close bond with the littlest ones; those 3 and 4-year-olds have such distinct and delightful personalities! On my final day at Sweet Soul, the children kept coming up for one last hug (and then another and another), and I got some truly heartwarming feedback from parents:

Parent 1: "Max was just sitting around yesterday, staring off into space, and suddenly he sighed and said, out of the blue, 'I love Erica!'" (The feeling is mutual. I'm going to miss that mischievous little mop-headed boy! Every day he came to camp wearing something new and creative--a chef's hat, a hair claw, a fake mustache--and there were truly no limits to the places his imagination would take him.)

Parent 2: "We hear the name 'Erica' constantly at our house."

Parent 3 (after her daughter got teary-eyed and kissed me goodbye on the cheek): "I think you're one of those people who has inspired Isabella and will continue inspiring her for the rest of her life. Are you staying in the city?"

Me: "I'm actually moving to Boston."

Isabella: "Mom, can we move to Boston too? Please?"

Hearing these things made all the tiring days and late nights I've spent pulling musical numbers together worth it. Don't worry, though--this post isn't going to be all nostalgia. :-) There's still a lot that I hope to do and see in Manhattan, and if you'll come with me, I plan to drag you along for the wild ride! Here's a sampler from my current list:

TO DO'S:

- Visit Highline Park (It's a park and, well, it's high. People say it's a must-see!)

- See the Flatiron Building (Why not?)

- Go to Coney Island (Is that too corny?)

- Attend one of the Mostly Mozart concerts (There's a Stravinksy/Schubert/Mozart line-up that looks incredible!)

- Try to make it to Wicked, Billy Elliot, Follies, War Horse, Phantom, Sister Act, Mamma Mia, and The Danny Kaye Musical (ambitious, I know!)

- Finish tweaking my own musical, The Weaver of Raveloe, in time for the BYU workshop at the end of the month.

- Do as much work as I can on North and South for Charles Strouse and Richard Maltby

- Finish transcribing Charles' woodwind quartet and quintet

- Say goodbye to friends!

And although I've been MIA lately (in an electronic sense), I've actually found time to do some pretty neat things outside of the Sweet Soul Camp. Here's another list:

THINGS I'VE DONE RECENTLY:

- Played NY tour guide to my mom, my brother Devin, and my brother Kedric and his new wife. (At one point, all five of us were staying in the same single-bed hotel room! It was an adventure.)

- Sat on the front row of Live with Regis and Kelly. (Regis himself came right up to me and said hello!)

- Met the famous Lee Adams who wrote the lyrics for Bye, Bye Birdie

- Been tentatively offered what sounds like an assistant music director position in connection with the upcoming Broadway revival of Annie!

- Visited Long Beach (the city and the beach itself), jumped into the salty waves of the Atlantic, and ate the best salad of my life: Meslun and frisee lettuce, grilled shrimp, asparagus, and fresh goat's cheese with yuzu dressing. (My mouth is watering even writing this. . .)

- Spoke in depth with Charles Strouse about the Mormon church. (Actually, my mom did most of the talking. More on this later!)

- Watched Midnight in Paris and The Help and loved both

- Attended Anything Goes (a third time!) after waiting in line for tickets from 6 until 10 AM

- Colored, highlighted, and layered my own hair. (Thank you, youtube tutorials!)

- Attended The Gazillion Bubble Show and had my picture taken inside a giant bubble. (This was really cool. Members of a Vietnamese family who have dedicated their lives to bubble-making filled the auditorium with bubbles of all shapes and sizes, blew bubbles within bubbles within bubbles, and made all sorts of intricate bubble creations using bubble juice and a fog machine. It's one of those see-it-to-believe it things. . .)

- Visited FAO Schwartz and played chopsticks on the giant piano

- Walked through Tiffany's and thought of Audrey Hepburn

- Watched the off-Broadway production of The Fantastics (Minimal set, only seven actors, and a piano and a harp--all in a small, blackbox theater. Stripped of all non-essentials, the script, music, and acting were powerful.)

- Saw the Mariinksy--St. Petersburg--Ballet perform

- Checked out the top-rated burger joints in the city (Shake Shake still tops my list!), ate cupcakes at Crumbs and Sprinkles (Sprinkles wins!), and bartered for gyros.

I'll stop there. :-)

Now that you know what I've done recently, are you ready to hop onboard and come along for the rest of the trip? Tomorrow I'm going to stand in the rush line for Sister Act. I'll see you bright and early (6:00 AM--don't be late)!