Thursday, December 24, 2015

Monologue Mania Day # 681 For Jonathan (RIP) by Janet S. Tiger Dec. 24, 2015

Welcome to Monologue Mania- one new free monologue a day
            for a whole year-and still going! first year -  Feb. 13, 2014 - Feb. 13, 2015
I've continued with a monologue a day until the spirit moves me to stop, so if you have any ideas for a monologue 
                      you want me to write, please let me know at tigerteam1@gmail.com.
If you just started this blog and want to read the earlier monologues-
     here's
 a list of the titles and blurbs from each day, 
click here  There are now over 680!
 Get  more great  award-winning monologues - MonologueZone.com

 If you'd like to write your own monologues, I happen to have a book for that -
How to Write a Monologue in 10 Easy Lessons (Well, maybe not so easy)
Thank you for your comments - and for liking and sharing this site.  Wishing you much success!  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monologue Mania Day # 681 For Jonathan (RIP)by Janet S. Tiger Dec. 24, 2015

Originally posted on  Day #304 Dec. 13, 2014  

                                                     For Jonathan
                             A monologue by Janet S. Tiger   © all rights reserved
                                                      tigerteam1@gmail.com 


                 (The person comes out onstage, dressed in black, wiping away tears.  The person is me)

This time of year, despite pastors and priests and reverends vehement denials -almost the paramount issue for all is.....gifts.

And yet, the greatest gifts are truly the love we have for others - parents, siblings of course, but for them we have no choice.  We are born and there they are!

But the gift of a friend.....what a special treat that is!  And the sadness that comes with eating all the candy, opening all the gifts....well, that sadness cannot compare with the loss of that gift....that friend.

I think grieving for a lost friend is one of the hardest things, as love for friends is not genetic,  because it is chosen, so the bonds are forged in a different type of way, a way that involves not covalent bonds of atoms, but the bonds forged like a chef when making a delicious dish.  There is the introduction, the first discovery of the flavors together, the meeting of the two minds, and, the instant aroma that happens when you know something is going to taste good.

Then you continue on with the dish over the years, adding memories, some like large chunks of chicken, the major events shared, others like pinches of spices, the shared laughter of private jokes.

Sometimes, there is a pot left simmering too long, and the worry is that the mix is now too hot, or the bottom burned, but when you check, you discover the extra heat of anger or upset or trouble made the contents come together more evenly, and the taste, when left to cool a bit, even more amazing.

I am torn to continue the analogy, because it makes me giggle a bit, and I can hear Jonathan reading this aloud in his wonderful Southern or British accent -can't decide which is better for this monologue - maybe actor's choice.

But then the years pass, and the dish, re-constituted from what was left in the freezer to save it during months apart in other countries or busy with family or ...just too busy to remember how delicious the dish was - and you find the container, and re-open it, warm it slowly and the aroma of that friendship warms the room, then the entire house, and your heart.......

And then, the dish is finished, the last bits scraped from the sides of the pot or the pan, the container washed, the knowledge there will be no more of that wondrous flavor ever again on this side of heaven, and the final seasoning is the salty tears.
It is a deep sadness, because we humans are selfish - we always want more of anything that tastes so good, even if we sometimes forget it, and leave it on a shelf or in the fridge.....but once it is gone forever because the key ingredient is no longer made, we mourn bitterly all the times we missed having it.  Until, along the way, the scrumptious scent wafts in from somewhere - an article, a photo, a laugh, and we recall that beloved friend again in all the glory of their youth and first flavors, and we smile through our tears.
And we go out and cry and share the memory with others, and we have a taste of something good and we remember, and we still love.......
I can hear you reading this Jonathan, and I can see you smiling and maybe even offering me some ways to make it better.  Thank you, dear friend.  I will miss you.  We will all miss you.
          (I turns to exit, look back)
And thank God for kleenexes!
          (I exit.  The final curtain for a dear friend, Jonathan Dunn-Rankin, may he rest in peace in that glorious theater in the sky!)
------------------------------------------ 
Final notes- This piece will be my only one this year in the first person because of the very personal nature of my grief today.  The reference to kleenexes is one Jonathan (and a few others) will spot - he performed one of my monologues 'Get a Cold' (wonderfully, of course, I can still hear him say -


                'I went into the archives...... these (he would hold up the kleenex box).... ingenious!  See how they pop up all by themselves!  I could do this all day!'  

 It would always get a laugh.......because he would always do it perfectly.  I mention this because.....even with all the tears,  I just couldn't end on a sad note, I had to give one last look...........and now, one year later, I keep looking back whenever I hear an actor try to imitate Jonathan's accent or style, and being unable tomatch it because.....he was truly one of a kind.  May you rest in peace......we still miss you!  And we thank you for being such a gift of a friend.....
                            
------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Janet S. Tiger    858-736-6315
JanetSTigerMonologueMania.blogspot.com
Member Dramatists Guild since 1983
Playwright-in-Residence
Swedenborg Hall 2006-8

No comments: