I Gasped

I don’t often find yourself gasping, but I gasped three whole times this past weekend. I  gasped  at the big 'reveal' four-fifths of the way through Disney's  Frozen  when we find out that one of the most  benevolent-seeming characters is actually wicked  down to his toes. (And let me pause and say what a charming movie that is, even without Idina Menzel’s  gorgeous full-throated warble as Elsa. The little snowman with his moveable carrot nose alone!) But you’re just not ready for that drop of evil that spreads its stain all over. I gasped again when I went Sunday to witness the beauty of the Chinese performance known as Shen Yun which I saw with my friend Lois, as wise, perceptive, and able-bodied a woman in her mid-80s, as she was when I met her 25 years ago. (Hmmmm, in fact, I think she's even wiser, and more perceptive, come to think of it.)I gasped when the curtains part and 20 woman dancers are seen - or rather not seen, since they are at first hidden by a rolling mist - as they crouch on the stage floor, holding aloft ivory-colored pink-tipped lengths of silk that they cause to rapidly flutter like flower blossoms in a soft spring breeze. In a twinkling the mist dissipates and they start to dance in the portion of the program called Lotuses in Bloom. In fact everyone gasped. We gasped as one, and 2,000 of us and remembered why it is we go to seek out communal activities such as you have in a theatre. And finally I gasped at the restaurant when this little boy.......who has the same name as my husband his grandfather, opened his mouth wide and threatened to pull out his own loose tooth,.It sent a chill clear through me to see it, I  weep to see him those baby teeth go, and the soft-skinned curve of cheek as well. Too soon ! Too soon do they lost that look! But let us turn to the cheerful theme of NOT hiding your light under a bushel and watch now as Idina-as-Elsa sings this instant classic from Frozen:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEKLFS-aKcw