It's sort of like...................

.....................  I remember when I was growing up I was IN LOVE with musicals.  Mostly the popular broadway ones at the time.  First "The Phantom of the Opera", then "Les Miserables", and later "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat".

First I would get the music on tape.  Then I would listen to the songs over and over and over religiously.  I would memorize them.  The exact moment the orchestra played a certain part that I liked, or the way the singer sang a particular phrase.  It was beautiful.

After years of obsessing over Phantom of the Opera, I was riding to a Stake Dance with my friends in my Young Womens advisor's car.  She had the Phantom of the Opera CD, so I begged her to listen to it.  What I heard was NOT Phantom of the Opera.  It had all these weird parts where people were talk-singing, and places in the middle of songs where they'd insert some weird little exchange between the characters that I'd never heard before.  Not to mention the cast was completely different, so even when they did start singing the songs I knew, it didn't sound right.  I would go so far as to say it sounded down-right horrible.

I went home and popped in the "REAL" Phantom of the Opera just so that I could get the other STUFF I heard that night out of my head.

After I graduated from High School I saved some money and my Mom took me and my sisters to see "The Phantom of the Opera" for the first time.  I was beyond excited.  It was to be the best day of my life.  Imagine my surprise when the play started and it resembled my Young Women Leader's version rather than my own.  With the weird dialogue exchanges in the middle of the songs.  I almost couldn't enjoy it, but I forced myself to because I had been looking forward to seeing the production for so long.

I went home and listened to the "real" version once again.  Similar experiences happened when I started to listen to "Les Miserables" and "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat".

But then I started to notice something.  The more I went to these productions, the less I expected the music to be what I thought it "should" be and started to appreciate it for what it was.

Each Christine and Raul sang their songs with a different emphasis and passion, yet each one was beautiful.  Eponine was amazing, and completely different every time I saw her sing about her love for Marius.  My appreciation for the music and the individual artist's interpretation grew each time I was able to watch the shows.

And so, I'm home in Utah now, and it's sort of like listening to The "REAL" version of the music that I loved.  It's so familiar.  It's SO beautiful.  I know every little thing.  I drive on streets that I've driven on for years.  I have memories and comfortable things all around me. And Santo Domingo is that "WEIRD PLACE" where things don't make sense.  And right now, I don't feel like I could ever go back and enjoy it after being home with the real version of life.

But I know I'll go back.  And my appreciation will grow.  And perhaps this time I won't notice all the things that are different, or "wrong".  But instead maybe I'll appreciate the interpretations of society better.  I really can't think about going home right now.  It makes me so sad.  But I know everything will be okay.  I know the Lord will help us.  And I know we'll get right back into the swing of things, just like we were before.  And I would bet that after a while the line between the way things are and the way I think they should be will start to fade, and I will be able to appreciate life for what it is.