so, last night while I watching (most) of the Sound of Music I was also checking Facebook.  I’ll admit that I cant just “be”.  That’s a different post for a different day.  I uploaded pictures, edited them, shared them, posted a blog, linked it to all my social media outlets, read through the full day of Facebook posts and left a few comments. Its an issue.  Most of us suffer from it.  And, I wonder why my mind can’t shut down at night. 

But, I was struck by several comments
“you cant beat perfection”
“carrie sounds like I do after I’ve walked up a flight of stairs”
“nothing is the same as the original”
“now I know why Broadway hires people that can sing AND act”

and more of the like..

Come on people.  Did you stop at all to think about what you were saying?  No, Carrie Underwood doesn’t sing like Julie Andrews, she sings like Carrie Underwood. 

When did we become so disdainful in our TV watching on a wintry night when we are all snowed into our homes where for once we could gather together in front of the TV as a full family and watch something that doesn’t make any of us cringe by the words or actions that any child or adult of any age could sit and enjoy together?  When did we become so opinionated that we thought people who are “friends” with us on Facebook felt that we should compare our overweight, unmoving selves who have to grasp for air at climbing a flight of 10 steps would be the same as a completely talented singer who has been working on this for several months walking 2 rounded flights of stairs while singing, dancing, trying not to fall on live TV, while carrying a guitar, setting it down without falling and dragging 7 kids along with you (not the same thing at all).  She arrived 2 weeks early for their 6 week rehearsal with all her lines fully memorized.  Its not like she has been sitting around twiddling her thumbs and took this because she had nothing else going on.  And the same can be said for the cast that surrounded her.

This is a historic night people.  Its been 50 years since a musical has been performed live on TV.  50 years since someone (or a broadcast network) in the entertainment business was willing to put themselves on the line, their career, their reputation and apparently their opportunity for YOUR opinion. 

Entertainment is for just that.  Entertaining us.  If its not entertaining then don’t continue to experience it, but don’t judge it. 

While we spent last week stuffing our faces with fried turkeys, homemade pies and giblet gravy, the cast and crew that entertained us last night prepped and prepared; a night when the nation would gather, most of us for the first time in our lives, to share an experience.  An experience that if it wasn’t the snowpacolypse we would have gathered around the proverbial water cooler this morning and discussed what fantastic memories were made in our homes last night.

I’m going to issue you a challenge.  Let’s quit taking every moment of life so seriously.  What if we put on nostalgia goggles?  What if we looked at a Christmas tree with the eyes of a child?  What if we enjoyed every concert whether its a middle school band or a well-groomed Symphony like it was the first time we ever heard an instrument played live?.  What if we saw Santa live for the first time whether he was a local guys we knew, one with a real beard actually attached with out glue or wearing a worn out cowboy hat?  Or if we realized the elf with him really was there just to help, not for us to grunt at?  What if the people we encounter and the experiences we have weren’t about us, but about the people we shared them with?  What if eye contact held in it the glimmer of a smile?  What if we said “thank you” instead of grumbling under our breath?  What if we chose to be?  Right where we are.  In the moment we are experiencing and with the eyes of nostalgia we reveled in everything around us.  Wallered around in memory like a pig in mud. 

What if we used those goggles to look at life like the first time we watched a 3D movie.  A life that was in our face.  Fully experienced and fully enjoyed. (popcorn and raisinets included!)

Tonight as I was scrolling through Facebook, this sweet picture popped up in my timeline and perfectly captured my heart.  A mom, a daughter and an intentional shared memory.