Last year, I became pretty ill. The person that I knew and everyone else knew me to be which is a person always looking on the bright side of life and the person who cracks a joke or two at meetings began to diminish. Suddenly every bit of food put in front of me looked completely unappetizing and weight began to fall off of me. With this also came stomach problems that left me in my bed most of the time. I feel bad to admit this, but it made me feel so scared, as I really love living life to the fullest and I had been blessed to not visit the doctor much in my life. Our scheduled vacation we take annually (which we were all taking in New York) approached and my family considered not going as the doctor and hospital had become my frequently visited friend.
I did not let this happen, I was not about to let my family down since only two of us had been to NYC prior and if you've read either of my blogs you know New York is my favorite place in the world. As families will do, we all hit up the big NYC stops together, but the thing that I anticipated so much was seeing SNL alum, Billy Crystal's 700 Sundays. If you haven't heard of it before, it is Billy's one man show that covers so many triumphs and trials of mostly his younger life(as the name originates from the roughly 700 Sundays he had with his father before his sudden passing).
As the big day approached, I became so excited as it would be the first SNL alum I would see perform in person, but also I would be seeing a living legend and one of my heroes preform from 3 rows away(my excitement that I displayed was obviously why the ticket to the show was my Christmas present). As my Mom and I sat down in our seats, I had no clue what I was about to witness before my eyes.
The lights signaled the start of the show, the music began, and out comes larger than life Billy Crystal. Within the first 5 minutes, everyone in the place was laughing so hard that a special kind of electricity filled the building that powered one person, Billy himself. He did impressions of so many people many of his own family, and you began to have this very vivid picture painted of what a fun and funny childhood he had growing up.
As the show progressed, Billy began to hit on some of the more taxing times including the loss of his father. Going through this myself around the same age and the same way as Billy-it really resonated with me. Something about hearing it described from someone else and realizing that even though we are from different worlds, we had experienced the same pains that are hard to process. I began to cry and not just any type of cry, the ugly cry that you get mad at yourself for. I was embarrassed, could he see me from up on the stage? Would he stop the show and ask me to leave? Then I began to scan the crowd again. All of us that were once rumbling with laughter were connected with the same heart beat. Just about everyone was ugly crying or somber. It's because at one time or another, we have all felt some sort of great pain of loss. Then out of nowhere, Billy would tell a joke that would fill you with such joy!
At this point I knew not only was Billy Crystal deserving of every bit of recognition he's gotten over the years, but he's worth even more. He was able to bring so many different people on a journey with him through every beautiful and hard moment of his life and bring us through the other side feeling the true gift in everything. As Billy closed his show, in such a positive way( I don't want to ruin it for you, if you haven't seen it yet, I suggest you buy it), I realized that whatever was wrong with me was going to be a story that I could tell. I was going to get better and appreciate every day, both past, present, and future. Now, it's a year later and I am back to my healthy self, but I will always be thankful to Billy Crystal, because even though he doesn't know me, he helped me get through a very difficult time in my life and realize that one day when I look back, it was just a spec on what will be such a beautiful life!
(Here's the link to buy a copy of 700 Sundays for you or someone special(the book is amazing as well): http://www.amazon.com/Billy-Crystal-700-Sundays-Various/dp/B00L5QX14A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417667627&sr=8-1&keywords=700+sundays )
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