Here's the thing about Andrew Lloyd Webber's iconic, polarizing musical Cats: it's not particularly "good", in the way that most of us interpret that word. There's basically no plot, the songs are catchy but slightly grating in that specific ALW way, and you either get behind the fully-grown-adults-crawling-around-in-spandex conceit or you vehemently don't.
BUT.
I will always have a soft spot for this wacky 80's Broadway icon. It's permanently tied up in my memories of The Teen Years, a rose-tinted period before college and impending adulthood and a spiral of self-doubt and depression and anxiety took over my life for awhile. It reminds me of old friends, some I might not ever see again, and a time when I was fully convinced of my Place on a Team building something tangible: these things are surprisingly difficult to come by outside of the boundaries of school.
BUT.
I will always have a soft spot for this wacky 80's Broadway icon. It's permanently tied up in my memories of The Teen Years, a rose-tinted period before college and impending adulthood and a spiral of self-doubt and depression and anxiety took over my life for awhile. It reminds me of old friends, some I might not ever see again, and a time when I was fully convinced of my Place on a Team building something tangible: these things are surprisingly difficult to come by outside of the boundaries of school.
So it was more profound than it might initially seem to see this silly '80s musical with my host family, especially the girls. I started showing them clips from the filmed version awhile ago, and they really enjoyed them; we ended up spending lots of time on the trampoline pretending to be the Rum Tum Tugger and Bombalurina! Their mom bought them an illustrated version of T.S Eliot's book of poems the musical is based on, and I even dug out the embarrassing YouTube video of my turn as Grizabella (they were suitably impressed). So to culminate all of this by watching them watch the show in person: Keira asking me questions non-stop, Zoe immediately recognizing all the characters, both of them singing along with Mr. Mistoffeles, it was moving in a way I didn't really expect.
One of the great and strange parts of being an au pair is experiencing a sort of Parenting-Lite
One of the great and strange parts of being an au pair is experiencing a sort of Parenting-Lite