Goin' Out To Cally - Part 7, Is Jackass A Sign?

As Aunt Patsy finished cleaning the kitchen, Sunday continued marveling at the astrological tile work above the living room fireplace. During our senior year I had come to find out that Sunday was a believer in astrology. She felt that all of these signs and stars and whatever else had some legitimate effect on all of us. The weirdest part was that, after a couple of questions she could guess anyone’s sign correctly. As a matter of fact, I can’t remember a time when she guessed wrong. I guess that means she wasn’t guessing at all.

Astrological symbols were sometimes used in character development in acting class, so I was familiar with the signs and their basic personality traits. They were not used in class as any sort of validation of astrology itself, but because each sign had well defined personality characteristics. When researching during rehearsals and developing your character work it was often helpful to assign your character an astrological sign that best fit that role in the play. It was a quick and easy way to have deep character analysis in ready-made form.

Aunt Patsy eventually made her way into the living room and Sunday eagerly began asking her about the tile work, hopeful she would be able to engage in conversation with a fellow believer. Aunt Patsy, however, was 100% southern Protestant. The tile work was put in place by a previous owner and they had left it up because of the workmanship. Not dismayed, Sunday tried to explain some of the nuances of astrology, but her audience was skeptical and tired.

I felt bad for her a little bit… and a bit guilty. It reminded me of a time when Sunday was asking me some fairly basic questions about Christianity. I was stunned that she didn’t know anything about it. “How was that possible?” I thought. In my own immaturity and ignorance, I incorrectly assumed that everyone’s life experiences were equal to my own. When I shared my disbelief with a fellow classmate, Leslie, who was a close friend of Sunday, she leaned into me and said “Why would she know anything about that! She’s Jewish!”

I felt like a jackass. How arrogant and stupid of me to make such assumptions. I realized that I had a lot to learn in college, about people and other beliefs. The journey of discovery never rattled the foundation of my own beliefs, but did make me evaluate them and try to put into place where other religions fit in my limited understanding of spirituality. It was a humbling experience. It’s a journey that I continue on even today.

As the evening wore on I tried to move the conversation toward sleep and tomorrow’s journey. We all agreed that we had a long way to go the next day... our goal was to make it to Dallas, Texas. We all needed a good night sleep, that was certain. But, even more important, we all needed to get on the road early.

We asked Aunt Patsy to wake us so we could be on the road by 7:00 a.m. She agreed and we all made our way to the soft beds awaiting our aching, tired and well fed bodies.

And so ended our first day on our trip to Cally.

********

Goin' Out To Cally - Part 7, (Text, Audio) Is Jackass A Sign?
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 6, (Text, Audio) Leftovers
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 5, (Text, Audio) The Kiss Of Friendship
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 4, (Text, Audio) Scholastic Intimacy
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 3, (Text, Audio) Space Invaders
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 2, (Text, Audio) The Fourth Wheel
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 1, (Text, Audio) The Seed Planted