First, I was saddened to read that JeanZ had passed. I was one of the early beta-testers of Restrospect, and I had many exchanges with her and others in that group. I haven’t posted in a long time. When I saw the membership was growing, I kind of dropped out believing that I had done my part.

This topic is something that I can relate to. I’m not a major collector of anything, but I do keep little bits of this and that from my various activities and careers. They live in a few boxes, most of the boxes contain a jumble of stuff. I do try to separate things into high school, college, programs for professional shows I’ve seen, and memories from shows I’ve participated in.

Currently (at least until the COVID-19 thing closed us down 2 days before opening The Bodyguard) I’ve been doing a lot of theatre projects at Diamond Head Theatre in Honolulu. Each production, the cast and crew give out opening and/or closing gifts. I’ve learned that it makes no sense to keep all of these gifts, but I do keep a program, my script and a couple of significant gifts from each show.

I have a large tee-shirt and swag collection from when I was working as a stagehand in Oakland, as well as other venues and productions. When the shelter at home orders came in, I decided to go through my drawers to look at all the shirts. I ended up doing 30 days of #shelterinshowshirts” on Facebook. People enjoyed it, and I got to wear almost all of my shirts again!

I’ve always been one to maintain relationships, so the high school pom-poms, Great America ID card and yellowing photos have placed smiles on faces when I have the opportunity to share them. I’ve found that my role is as “A Connector”. I love sharing memories with those from my past. I manage Facebook groups for

• My high school class
• The Show Ops people from Great America Santa Clara
• A musical performance group called Youth of America (I performed with them in the 70’s)
• An alumni group for staff from KTEH Public Television
• Students from the 2 high schools where my drama teacher had worked

You might think that I’m stuck in the past – far from it. In my mid-60’s I now work as a website developer where I continue to learn and grow with the changing technology. I love remembering the “good old days”, but I don’t want to go back. However, I’ll continue to keep a little bit of this, and a little bit of that from each thing in my life that has meaning to me.

I have so much memorabilia that I don't even know where to start writing about it.
Read More

Soul Collage

I retired over 10 years ago and since then I gained over 20 pounds,  and try as I might,  I couldn’t seem to lose them.

It’s understandable – at my age loosing pounds and inches is hard,  I’m not a gym rat (in fact we have a treadmill in our apartment which collects dust),   I’m a Weight Watchers drop-out,  and admittedly I’m  pretty lazy.

And I realize when I was a working school librarian I kept a schedule,  punched a clock every morning at 8:00,  was on my feet all day,  took the stairs instead of the faculty elevator,  and for lunch every day ate tuna fish from a little can.    Since retirement however I sleep late,  go out for lunch with friends,  sit in the theatre a lot,  and take cabs around town.

Then a few years ago,  disgusted with my weight,  I signed up for a week at Green Mountain,  a woman’s health and fitness retreat in Ludlow, Vermont.   “She’s going to a fat farm.”,  my husband undiplomatically told everyone.

Not knowing what to expect,  I arrived at Green Mountain and was immediately delighted – the mountain view from my dorm window was breathetaking,   the staff were professional,  knowledgable,  warm and kind,  and meeting the two dozen other women from across the country who were also in the program was the icing on the cake.

We were of all ages and sizes,  there were two sets of mothers-and-daughters,  a lawyer from Hawaii,  one other New York eastsider,   a dentist from St Paul,  a college kid from California,  women from all walks of life and it seems every state – one gal even from Europe.  And of course we all had our own stories,  and by weeks’ end most of them had been shared.

We started the day with a nature walk,  some yoga and then a yummy – and nutritious – breakfast.   Then we each followed an individualized schedule which included various types and levels of exercise,  water aerobics in the pool,   martial arts including kick boxing,  lectures by the nutritionist,  the trainers and even the wonderful Green Mountain chef.

And we had fun activities each night – karaoke once with me belting out Bonnie Raitt’s Longing in Their Hearts,  and another night discovering the emotional impact of making  “soul collages”.

We were given scissors,  paste,  and piles of old magazines,  and were told without any forethought or planning to cut out random images that appealed or resonated with us,  assemble them on a large card,  and then explain the meaning of the collage to the group.

I was amazed at what memories the images I chose from those old magazines evoked.   Here are three soul collages I made at Green Mountain.

Can you guess what each one meant to me?

– Dana Susan Lehrman

Why the small beige box was in my mother's dresser I'll never know. The items pictured belonged to my father's father ...
Read More