Michael Venske

MARCH 11 2012

Every day may have the same amount of hours, minutes and seconds, but not all days are created equal. Some days are crummy, forgettable, and just okay. But there are a few days every year that are so remarkable that the days immediately following can in no way possibly even try to be as awesome.

The day I’m about to share with you was nothing short of serendipitous! The day was March 11, 2012. The day’s co-captain? Rebecca Blackmore. Many things happened on this warm Sunday in Winston-Salem…

I will start by telling you Rebecca and I went to church. Technically, we got lost on the way to the church. Part of the fun of being alive though isn’t always the destination, but the journey… So I seized the moment and took it as an opportunity to drive like a man delivering a 30-minutes-or-it’s-free kind of pizza! We arrived to the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Winston-Salem a few minutes late, but were welcomed all the same.

Then a dinosaur appeared in the sanctuary! The dinosaur marched up and down the aisles and through the pews and if it sounds like I’m making it up I could be but I’m totally not! There WAS a dinosaur and Rebecca will totally back me up on this! (And Rebecca if you have a picture, will you please send it to me?)

After church we went to breakfast, as it is customary. It was nice to sit and catch-up with my friend. We talked about family and some of the hardships each of us were facing. I remember the chairs rocked. I don’t mean like “they were awesome,” I mean they had some give — like, a rocking chair. Oh, and we drank a lot of coffee. Probably enough to fill this coffee-cup-head…sculpture…thing!

We decided to go for a walk through the Arts District and during our walk we happened upon this sign:

We couldn’t resist the invitation and began drawing… Kids stopped to draw with us. With such a simple gesture it felt like we were making the world better just by letting kids and adults alike know it’s okay to play…because we were playing. And that’s okay.

We meandered around Winston-Salem until we found this pavilion. Then we performed the show we’d been touring around for a few homeless men. It was crazy fun and silly and I wish we would’ve had the means to record the show. Everything in the show was familiar, but different. Doing the show with Rebecca was like coming to China, it’s just like America except everything is different. The bits were different. The jokes were different. The blocking…was mostly the same. The men that watched us got to see us working, not putting on a show, but two creatives in the moment collaborating…MAGIC!

Later we had gelato. It helped soothe our voices. Rebecca’s gelato wasn’t my style, but my style was… It was good. What I’m saying is that it was good gelato.

I think part of the reason I love this day so much was because: A) I was with Rebecca, and B) everything happened in it’s own time. Leisurely. Relaxed. Nowhere to be, but right where we were.

Outside of the gelato shop we saw this sign:

If you want to blame anyone for what Rebecca and I did next blame Robert B. Glenn.

At Finnegan’s Wake we drank whiskey and smoked cigarettes. The topic of conversation was heavy regarding the passing of friends and family. I don’t remember everything we talked about, but I remember the feeling of sitting in the sun across from my friend. It remains as literally one of the happiest days of my whole year.

I feel so lucky to have met Rebecca through NTC! She was my first roommate and drinking buddy. She appreciates whiskey and breakfast and she even saved my life thanks in part to her perfect driving skills. She’s one of my best friends and I love her to pieces. She’s one hell of an individual and anyone that knows her or works with her is blessed to get to chill with someone as cool as her!

Michael

PS… There are probably a lot of things I’m leaving out about this day. For some reason I can’t remember what we ate for lunch. I think it was something on the go. Something quick and easy. I think we walked with our food and at it in the same pavilion we performed. I can’t remember. Maybe lunch sucked and I just blocked it out. Maybe we had a liquid lunch. I honestly have no idea. That doesn’t matter though. The day was perfect even if lunch was forgettable.

MICHAEL VENSKE is an expert mistake maker whose faith and enthusiasm cause him to leap without looking. One such jump landed him in China where he’s currently teaching kindness, compassion, and the fine art of physical comedy.

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