Hamilton

The last book Nick ever read was Hamilton by Ron Chernow. For his birthday that last year George and I got Daddy the complete Hamilton original Broadway cast recording on CDs and found a gently used hard back copy of the book. Nick was so excited! The recording got immediate play but he waited until that summer to read the book, as summer was the only time he could carve out time to read for fun. Nick had loved the musical Hamilton since President Obama invited the cast to perform selections at the White House in 2016 and was thrilled to read the book that had inspired Lin-Manuel Miranda. He loved the book too.

Now in our house I have always been me the one obsessed with musicals. If you’ve known me for any good length of time you’ll have heard the story of how I saw Peter Pan live on stage TWICE before I’d ever been in a movie theater. So when Nick fell hard for a musical that I couldn’t even stand, it felt like we’d entered the twilight zone! Yep, I couldn’t enjoy at all Hamilton… at first.

Then the pandemic descended and the world turned upside down. Frankly my world has been upside down ever since. Our little family survived the pandemic only to suffer the shattering death of Nick, and then two years later the death of my father. Catastrophic gut wrenching punches one after another leaving me reeling but with zero choice but to continue, to rise up. 

So while I’ve been slow to the party, I am borderline obsessed with Hamilton now. We watched the Disney+ recording together with George and loved it! Whenever anyone would ask “what time is it?” within George’s ear shot he would joyfully exclaim “SHOWTIME!” Nick and I had even talked about after the pandemic and then after his cancer was in remission taking George to Broadway to see it. Of course, we never got that opportunity, the pandemic lifted but remission never came… and George, who used to LOVE singing the songs with Daddy, now hates the show and can’t bare to listen to it. I understand. Music is powerful and while I find comfort in this soundtrack now, George only finds pain. But it did make me I wonder if I’d ever get to see it… shows don’t stay on Broadway forever.

Enter the advent of “mom’s day out to Broadway” this school year with my longest friend and sister by choice. Once a season we run away together for the day to grab lunch and see a show on Broadway. Fall it was Merrily We Roll Along, nominated for SEVEN Tony awards this year by the way! Winter it was Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, such fun!!! This spring I finally made the pilgrimage and saw Hamilton. It was phenomenal. It was emotional. On a grey and dismal spring Wednesday afternoon “The Great White Way” reminded me that we are all so lucky to be alive right now and that we should indeed live each day to its fullest. You have no idea when you may be running out of time.