Mark, set.. go!

No............ that ain't it.

Howabout...........

"ACTION!"  Like, in a play, when the Director says that.

Yeah, that's it....   There ain't no 'standby one'...  no..  'wait a sec (life), let's try that again'....

Yes, Hallmark movies, whilst ever popular, are fairly predictable in how they play out.  Life ain't.

Life is, can be, like a play. Sometimes, unscripted...... like the feller in the play who mebbe has a lapse...  in a scene of Act 1, he might say a line from Act 3...it throws everyone for a loop, heads are scratched, NOW WHAT?.  That's life (Right Frank?)

It should be easy, and, I guess in some ways it is... then again, it ain't.  Loved one, beat cancer twice..... died of a heart attack mowing the yard.  Friend, yes, a tad over 70, fit as a fiddle... met his demise on the treadmill.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh there is SO much good, elation...... we, the audience, smile, emote, as they, the 'players' have their scenes of Christmas, Kindergarten, training wheels off, the aroma of Granny's apple pie on the stand up heater in the living room.

That first time ever, a LIGHT BULB went off in your head, body, through your veins, WOW, I think I really like her/him.  "Well sure, we all  do."  "NO, you don't get it... I mean.. one day.. I just might wanna get married to him/her."   Ahm, Director?  I keep looking thru this playbook and I can't find nuthin' on that. Now what?

Who needs a playbook, there's Google............. right?

"Write down the beginning, middle, and end of your play, including major story beats and plot points surrounding your main conflict. Separate your plot points into their respective acts, following a pattern of rising action (leading up to the climax) and falling action (leading up to the resolution."

If only life, 'the play', were so easy.   Conflict.........hmmmm... I remember fist fights by the smoke tree across from the high school right after 7th hour...  Breakin' up is hard to do.. keep  the yarn but I'd like my ring back.  Junior, you've been out of school almost a year now.. yain't worked.. ya don't help clean, cook, nuttin.  It's time.  You got to go.  "BUT MOM! (or DAD)..

Act 1,Scene 3. "Welcome to (this specific company) Junior.  Your shift will be (Thursday thru Monday, 11pm to 7am.....   or mebbe, Monday thru Friday, 8-5...   here, you'll work three days, get one off, work two, get another off......... repeat.)...  Have fun, just think, only 45 more years till  retirement.

I NEED A SCRIPT!  Sure, I met my baby... we're gonna have a baby....... NOW WHAT?  Buy a house?   Fit in our budget?  Director, is that somewhere in there in Act 1, Scene 5?  Huh? I need financing?  Mom gave me an allowance when I was 14, this is hard...

And as we sit in the audience of the play of life........ we see.............. car trouble...... relationship wobbles...  wunnerful kids who sometimes behave like sassy britches.  Bankrupt companies..  layoffs...  raises.. promotions..  how do I do this?  I HAVE TO MOVE?  TO TOLEDO?  (Ahm, Director.. I ain't finding that anywheres in Act 1 or Act 2...whassup?)

All plays have emote.  Love.  Hugs. Tears. Laughter.  Lights dim, assumed "Oh baby oh baby." Breakup. Get together.  Terse words.  Kind words. Hella.  Hella emotions.

Honey?  Charlie (next door neighbor) used his snowblower to do our sidewalk and driveway too!.. That family across the street, they're slobs... Cookies?  Why thank you Betty!  Like a good neighbor, Betty is there. Frank? Someone stole ma' dayum Amazon Prime package..  even gotta picture of it that they DID deliver it.  (What now Director?)  MOM, that lady won't give us our wiffle ball back again.

Playbooks are unpredictable, but, have all kinds of ends.  Tight ends, split ends (in both football and hair).. ends to meetings that one thought would never end... take this job and shove it ends (NOW WHAT Director?)..   Loose ends.. dead ends.. not the end of the world.  EASY FOR YOU TO SAY, IT'S OVER!..  Odds and ends....... even, burnt ends.

I'm filing for divorce. WHAT?  That ain't in the playbook! Worse, confusion ends.  Lonely ends. Hospice ends.  None, predictable.

Act 2, Scene 1.  Ahm, Victor?  Yeah?  There ain't nuttin in the playbook. for Act 2, Scene 1.   Oh crap, NOW WHAT?  How do  I do fitty?.............. 60?....... FINALLY! 65!!! Backflip, backflip, backflip........ Honey? You got the number to that chiropractor?

Act 3, Scene who knows.   70-something.  Peeking out the window (or, at the playbook, sumpin.)  Now what?  I'm scared... tired..  wonderful...  happy...  lonely... still madly in love.. peppy... poopy... DIRECTOR? Yes?  There are only 3 scenes in Act 3 of the playbook?  Sir, we just don't know.

Seth Lugo.

Victor, whointhehell is Seth Lugo.  He's a pitcher.  A very good one. For, the Kansas  City Royals. How are you gonna wiggle... insert here so it makes sense.. tie it in to life being a play without playbooks.

We face much in life.  Major League hitters normally deal with pitchers who have...... a fastball.. curveball.. . slider.. and changeup.  There's nuttin' easy about hitting a 97 mile per hour fastball, especially when coupled with those other three pitches.. but...  when Harry Hurler on the mound has those four different pitches, sometimes you can guess what's coming. Sometimes even, like in life, one is tipped off as to what's coming.

Victor........... you're avoiding the Seth Lugo question.  More. Now please.

Seth Lugo is like the pitcher life is.  When standing in the batter's box of life.. it's dayum hard to know 'what's coming'.  There ain'tno Act 1, scene 5. Act 3, scene 2.

Seth throws NINE different pitches.  Curveball....... Sinker......... 4-seam fastball...  Slider....... Cutter... Sweeper....   Slurve...  Changeup...... Split finger...

Ya just never know what's coming.  Holy guacamole.  No thanks, I'll have the Cheesy refried black bean dip if it's all the same to you.

Don't worry about memorizing your lines.  Life is ad lib.

Rare are curtain calls.

Rejoice.  Sit back, enjoy the play (life.)

Love you,

Victurd