A Child Of Atom

I'm in Savannah this week visiting my alma mater and doing some work for them. It's the 70th anniversary of the department and they have invited several of us, including Michelle and I, to come to the school to speak, or work on productions. The production that I am designing is a remount of the first production that the school ever did, back in 1937. The school's drama department actually has a long and storied history that is only just now being rediscovered in preparation for this anniversary. For instance they performed the first integrated production of Othello south of the Mason-Dixon. Isn't that cool? No one was aware of that until just recently.

Anyway, it's been an odd trip for me. In some ways it is a homecoming, to return to the school were I worked for three years, not only to get a degree, but to design and build the sets for the shows. In other ways it is a weirdo trip to my past. Finding my handwriting still on labels in the shop, props that I built or bought still in existence, my old paint box sitting untouched and full of oil paint and brushes in the paint room as if I had just placed it there yesterday. It's been an odd few days feeling simultaneously as if I never left and that I'll never fit here again.

In the meantime I have had fun exploring Savannah again and rediscovering my life here. I've been to stores that I used to frequent, restaurants that I loved, and of course I have been running around town digging up geocaches. Sunday my mom and my sister and her husband dropped by to see me and we visited the Wormsloe Historic Site, (that's it in the picture up there). The park wasn't yet open when we arrived but I thought it would be a perfect place for a cache so we drove around the neighboring area trying to find an open wi-fi network so that I could check. We started our search in the parking lot of a Piggly Wiggly, where we found several networks, but none open. Eventually I found a hotel where I could get access. The first thing I discovered? That there is a cache in the parking lot of the Piggly Wiggly. I do love my coincidences. Turns out that Wormsloe didn't have any but there was one on the Isle of Hope nearby so we visited that before hitting the state park. (Wormsloe is lovely by the way, and I recommend a visit if you are in the area.) I've also found a few other caches around town, about one a day since I've been here. It's a fun way to keep myself occupied.

I'm here for 5 more days before returning to NYC and back to my life. I miss home already, but I'm happy to be here too.