The sign is about to go up.  The sign for the this year’s high school musical.  This is significant to me, because, as I’ve written before — I remember things, so many things.  It’s a gift — and a curse.

The local high school here has a very well-respected music and theater department. Going to see a play at the high school isn’t something that only a parent of a performer would put oneself through. It isn’t a painful two hours required by some familial connection to some pimply faced kid. No, it’s kind of like going to a “real” show. It is actually enjoyable, yet since it is still just a school production, the tickets are cheap. When my kids were little, I would take them to these shows and to other local high schools if they had a decent theater department. It’s a night out, and a way to introduce live theater to children without having to take out a second mortgage.

My kids’ high school usually alternates between a classic musical or one of the lesser known newer ones and they “recycle” ones they’ve done before when enough time has passed.

This brings me to the personal significance of the sign going up.  Apparently, enough time has passed that the school has decided to  repeat its production of the musical they did when my marriage ended. Let’s say it was The King and I  — it wasn’t — but that’s the one I’m going with for purposes of this post.

Over the years I’ve only danced around the actual happenings surrounding my husband’s departure, dealing more with the fallout after he left than the painful process of his leaving. I tell myself I’m saving it for my memoir, but really — I’m extremely uncomfortable talking about it — still.  For me, I guess, not enough time has passed for a revival.

Sometimes, though,  you just have to raise the curtain — a little.

So here it is.  It was about three weeks after he’d told me, “I have to go.”  Those three weeks consisted largely of me begging him not to leave me,  until one Friday night I finally said to him — “I guess I can’t force you to stay.”

That’s all he needed to hear.

By  the next day, Saturday, he had booked a hotel room, and planned to sleep there that night. (Say what now?)  That joker wasted no time. The plan was to tell the children on Sunday (aka the worst day of my life).  After, he would officially move out.

So Saturday night?  Separation Eve?

We went to see a play.

Bizarre.

Our family was too big to get seats in one row.  Musicals are a hot ticket in town.  So I sat behind my husband, we each were flanked with  kids. I remember thinking it was a mistake to sit behind him, because I’d have to see him, the back of his head,  if I looked up at the play. And I didn’t want to cry.  I remember  trying very hard not to cry during the show, though there was comfort when the lights went down that my tears wouldn’t be noticed.  Too bad it wasn’t really The King and I, I always cry at the end of The King and I.  No matter, I had tissues to cover any escaping signs of my emotional turmoil.  I always carried tissues with me from that time on. Trying not to cry or be seen crying in public became almost my vocation in the next year.

I remember during the play reaching out in front of me and caressing my husband’s shoulder.  I just needed to touch him.  I needed him to know I was there.  Still. There. Hurting. I remember him acknowledging my touch without looking at me, as if he were saying, “Oh bless her heart.”  I remember the awkward Intermission, when small talk with my soon to be ex-everything seemed so wrong and eye contact deemed so dangerous, as it might trigger the tears.   I talked with someone I knew in the pit orchestra instead, I recall.

And I remember the play, “The King and I.”  I remember thinking this would really be good, except for, you know, my life falling apart.

I was in a fog, a fog of shock, denial and accommodation. I’ve since had some clarity on the subject.  And I don’t love him anymore.  Haven’t for years. Still, I remember things.

The kids were oblivious.  They enjoyed the play, having no idea that their world was going to be completely turned upside down — in a matter of hours.

When the show was over,  we all went home and put the kids to bed.

Then my husband left our home to stay at a hotel.  I knew that when he returned the next day it would be so that we could tell the kids he’d be moving out and he would, indeed, move out.

But that was then . . .

And enough time has passed (apparently) that it’s okay for the high school to put on the same musical.  My kids aren’t little anymore.  One is in college.  The rest now go to this same high school, which means that I will see that sign every day, multiple times a day, until the show is over.

I used to hope that my kids would get involved in theater at the high school.  None did. But, I think, this might be a blessing.

Because I don’t have to go to this show.  Because if I did go to this particular production, I couldn’t help but relive that night, the beginning of the hardest days of my life and the long journey since.

If I had a kid performing in the 2015 production of  The King and I ?

I don’t think I would handle that well.  I remember things.  It’s a gift and — oh hell — it’s a curse.

So, the sign will go up soon.  Enough time has passed for a revival.

But no one asked me.

It will take all the restraint I have left in my being not to run the damn sign over.

Just Me With  . . . a night at the theater.   Too bad it isn’t Chicago, about famous murderesses . . . and their men — who had it comin.’

And I’m glad it wasn’t really The King and I, because that is a beautiful show and I would hate for it to be ruined.

Postscript:   The damn sign is up now.

Related:

My Daddy Moved Out — What one kid said about it at school.

Happy Birthday to My Ex-Husband’s Ex-Girlfriend — Because I remember everything.

Worst Super Bowl, Remembered — Again, because I remember everything

My Cheating Husband was Packing Viagra — I helped him pack.

Six Days of Separation — I was a mess the next week.

I Don’t Love Him — self-explanatory.

When I Needed A Helping Hand —  To move his stuff.