Purple Rain......

There was that one summer, in Cambridge Mass.
Me, my brother and the Geidt Sisters!
I think we saw Purple Rain 100 times.
Sophie and Jennifer were the only kids, pretty much,
local and apart of American Repertory Theatre.
Mr. Jeremy Geidt and his wife, took Dad under their wing, when
Dad first arrived on the A.R.T. scene.
It was the second summer we had to share Dad with his
girlfriend Bonnie , she was cool, perhaps abit too
young ! but they had a new addition, this summer,
their wolfhound, Puppy, Thisbe.
Funny how A MidSummer Night;s Dream~
 "Thisbe & Pyramus" story is all about
forbidden love......
Dad was friends with the superintendent ~
and landed an empty apartment , just beneath Dad's apt.
for me & chris , for a week.
So sleep over;s became a mutual sharing.
We had acouple sleep overs at the Geidt's; I'll never forget!
It was the first time I experienced someone sleep with their eyes open.

I had awoken that morning. Everything was quiet.  The Geidt's home was safe.
Beautiful antique charm, old low ceiling style, felt little & quaint but somehow went on forever.
They had a bunkbed!!! Always wanted a bunkbed!!! 'Jennifer slept on the bottom bunk,
and when I rolled over and saw that she was awake too,
I said, "GoodMorning!", loud enough for the birds to fly from the tree.
Thus the silence` held`  in her lack of a response,
~ like a thick blanket of snow quells the
vibration of noise..... quiet fell over the room
but the blue eyes that were open wide , but asleep, held me in terror.
 Thank god it was the morning!
Because suddenly , I just wanted to be back on the mattress, under covers,
upon the floor at my dad's small apartment.

Well, there;s a first for everything.  I was dabbling alot that summer, with alcohol and
smoking.
The tender age of 16. Headed into my junior year. Thought I was all grown up,
especially when one of my father's actor friends began flirting with me. I'll leave his name out
of it.... but in my case , as young as I can remember I always had a crush on one of my father;s
peers :No matter what production, there was always one per production. It never occurred to me
that age mattered?!! HUH?!!!
As did my brother!!
Chris had the talent of seemingly scoping out the "girlfriend" material. (right before Dad would introduce her to us) I would look at chris~ Like WHAT!!! that's the one YOU chose!!

Well being that Dad got us that little apartment ~ Us and the Geidt Sisters certainly
christened the bathroom. A bottle of Vodka and a few beers, throw in the cigarettes.
Always wondered if it was the smokes that made us vomit.
Well, the night began on a high , my Dads friend gave me his number and we
were going to set up a rendez-vous.
AS IF>>>> hot headed teeny bopper. The phone call left me numb.
He had a talk with his friend and she told him  that it was inappropriate to meet with me!
So he squashed the whole idea in under a 2 minute phone call.
 And here I was riding on adrenalin all day long. Set up and Let Down. What was I thinking?

It set the course for the night, however, it was Jennifer whom had the melt down.
We held her hair back , as she unloaded her entire dinner plus,  all of her
emotional insecurities of self and family.
 It felt too heavy. I was scared for Jenn. I was feeling rejected too.
But somehow, helping Jenn became my drunken purpose. I just wanted her to stop throwing up
because I could handle the crying. I was crying thru her.
Where had all the fun gone that we all planned out together?!!!
 How cool was it to be all grown up with your own place?! Not so much.


If anyone should be having a breakdown I would think it would have been ~
Sophie, Jenn;s little sister,
whom had survived a terrible airplane crash years prior.
Dad told me , A doctor had ran back & pulled her from the plane just before it exploded.
It was the first Year my Dad was up at The A.R.T., I remember meeting
Sophie and Jennifer.
Sophie was the little soccer star, boy chick, fun, free & friendly. I could
so identify with the tomboy in this girl.
Jennifer was the pretty chubby girl with awesome dimples &
 the most beautiful natural long ringlet curls,
the hair I always wanted.
Both of their eyes were caribbean sea blue. Beautiful and charming children
of Actors.
I remember Dad sharing this intense story with us.
After that event, Sophie was different. Like shell shocked. Of course!!
It took her awhile to come around.
We didn;t live there... so it took a minute to warm things up and pick up
where we left off the summer before.

Thus, Here we all were trying to soothe her sister out of some drunken sadness.
We all got very close that summer. Teenage life, it's hard sometimes. Where would we
have been without one another?

OUR THERAPY:
We were addicted to PURPLE RAIN !
We listened to Prince's album that entire summer.
The movie was profound. The message was ~ don;t repeat the mistakes of your father.
Or so it seemed. I wanted to try acting and Dad made me promise to NEVER do it.
I never thought my father;s acting was a mistake~ There were
times when I think he thought it was for him. But he was a natural.
I couldn;t begin to imagine the rejection an actor must feel when the phone never
rings or the parts are handed over to the "look alike".
One must bare a hide of buffalo or a turtle shell?!!¿!!!

Purple Rain was a story of rejection on several levels.
The sound Track was Awesome. It was therapeutic.
 It had turbulence and conflict,  sex , & rage, love & forgiveness. The story of a dysfunctional family , WOW! We weren't alone! The story of Prince's
relationship or lack there of, with his father was the undercurrent of this film.

Perhaps I was addicted to this movie because it only
 confirmed that I actually did have a relationship with my Dad.
 He was caring and loving , distant at times & disciplined.
He was all the things I ever needed.
My dad was the music too. Always putting me an Chris inside his music.
Wether it was Mozart , Vivaldi , or the Doobie Brothers or Pink Floyd.
I love you Dad 4ever.