Les Miserables

Thursday, October 11, 2018, Becca and I went to see Les Misreables. This is one of mine and Brian's favorite shows and I could not wait to share it with Becca. What an amazing love story Les Miserables is. Well, at least that is how I remembered it from my other 5 times seeing it. Until this time. I think, as with anything, your take away from shows and situations depends on where you are in your life and your life experiences. All the death and grief that happens in the show was much more apparent to me this time then in the past. I believe Becca saw the death and grief on top of the love story. Victor Hugo asserts that love and compassion are the most important gifts one person can give another and that always displaying these qualities should be the most important goal in life. Valjean's transformation from a hate-filled and hardened criminal into a well-respected philanthropist epitomizes
Hugo's emphasis on love, for it is only by learning to love others that Valjean is able to improve himself. While Valjean's efforts on behalf of others inevitably cause him problems, they also give him a sense of happiness and fulfillment that he has never before felt. Valjean's love for others - in particular, for Cosette - is what keeps him going in desperate times. I can see this in our own lives, how the love we have for each other has kept us going in our own desperate times. It was always love, love for my children and husband, that pulled me through and still pulls me through my darkest times.

On October 28, 2013, I posted about 'Our Crusade', Brian and I had just seen Les Miserables. Coming home from seeing it with Becca, made me remember that I had done a blog post about the show before, so I went back and searched. Hence, 'Our Crusade'. After re-reading the post, I again realized that one's take-away from a show or situations depends on where you are in your life and your life experiences. So my take away in 2013, was about bringing the barricade down with education and awareness, talking about it (rare diseases and all that comes with it), being open (about our journey), as well as answering questions. Through this blog, Facebook, other forms of social media and speaking with others, I have been able to bring some of the barricade down, however, there is a long way to go. My focus maybe different now than they were 2013, but maybe not. I have realized there are different directions my crusade/journey can take me; rare diseases (and all that comes  with them - affects on the family; on the individual; costs, etc) grief and bereavement with the lost of a child (particularly a young/teenage child - there seem to be many resources for infant loss or the loss of an adult child but not much of any for loss of a child/teenager); grief and bereavement for a teenager (this could go in the direction of loss of a sibling); twin loss (this loss is different than just the loss of a sibling), or just who knows where. What I do know is that love and compassion will be behind me in any and every direction I go.

Here are the words to two songs from Les Miserables which resonated with me.

"EMPTY CHAIRS AT EMPTY TABLES"

There's a grief that can't be spoken

There's a pain goes on and on

Empty chairs at empty tables

Now my friends are dead and gone

Here they talked of revolution

Here it was they lit the flame

Here they sang about tomorrow

And tomorrow never came

From the table in the corner

They could see a world reborn

And they rose with voices ringing

And I can hear them now

The very words that they had sung

Became their last communion

On this lonely barricade at dawn

Oh my friends, my friends forgive me

That I live and you are gone

There's a grief that can't be spoken

There's a pain goes on and on

Phantom faces at the windows

Phantom shadows on the floor

Empty chairs at empty tables

Where my friends will meet no more

Oh my friends, my friends, don't ask me

What your sacrifice was for

Empty chairs at empty tables

Where my friends will sing no more

"I DREAMED A DREAM"

There was a time when men were kind

When their voices were soft

And their words inviting

There was a time when love was blind

And the world was a song

And the song was exciting

There was a time

Then it all went wrong

I dreamed a dream in time gone by

When hope was high

And life worth living

I dreamed that love would never die

I dreamed that God would be forgiving

Then I was young and unafraid

And dreams were made and used and wasted

There was no ransom to be paid

No song unsung

No wine untasted

But the tigers come at night

With their voices soft as thunder

As they tear your hope apart

As they turn your dream to shame

He slept a summer by my side

He filled my days with endless wonder

He took my childhood in his stride

But he was gone when autumn came

And still I dream he'll come to me

That we will live the years together

But there are dreams that cannot be

And there are storms we cannot weather

I had a dream my life would be

So different from this hell I'm living

So different now from what it seemed

Now life has killed

The dream I dreamed