Goodbye 25, hello 26
Let’s face it. Nobody ever really cares about their 26th birthday. You’ve been drinking for years, seeing all the R rated movies you want, your car insurance rate has gone down and you’ve been renting cars with no additional fees for at least a year now. However 26 is special to me for a few reasons.
- My father made it a point to remind me that no male Lemon lives past 50 years old and he even checked out at 49 for good measure. Welcome to the second half of my projected life expectancy (fuzzy logic). Now in the pass year I have abandoned the belief that I’ll die soon and plan on sticking around a little longer but I figure if I follow my favorite James Dean quote, “Dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die today.”, then I won’t have too many regrets when the time comes.
- . "No more pencils, no more books, no more teachers' dirty looks”. I have officially exited the structured education portion of my life. I have a B.A. from Hampton University and a M.F.A. from The New School for Drama, the latter being a terminal degree. Meaning I already carry the highest degree in my field of study. This doesn’t mean I’m done learning by far. It just means that my next phase of instruction will be way off the beaten path and be far more experience based. Right now I’m taking Spanish, next I’m starting Krav Maga, and when the sun comes back to New York City I’m taking Trapeze lessons (Who’s with me?!?)
So far I’ve…
Completed the L.A. marathon twice, driven across country, failed too many classes to finish high school on time but managed to do it anyway, changed my major too many times to finish college on time but managed to do it anyway, watched people perform plays that I wrote and watched people that don’t know me enjoy it (Early twenties b-day present to myself), drank far too much, tried far too little, jumped the gun, bit the bullet, took an L, stole a W, been a whore, refused to give up, forced to retreat, lead multiple plays, supported even more, fallen in what I thought was love, fallen in love for real, proposed marriage , been denied, watched my father die, gotten closer to my mother, became a Kappa Man, became a fucking Master of Fine Arts!, taught children, welcomed the idea of having my own children, honored with the distinction of Godfather of 3 beautiful kids, danced in Times Square, made people laugh and smile, pissed countless other off, driven too fast, moved to slow, created, destroyed, chased women, been chased, been caught, broke free, did it all over again, made really really really bad dumb stupid ridiculous decisions, made the best choice possible, taken drugs, regretted said decision, drank Four Loko, regretted said decision more than the drugs, found the champion inside me, followed, lead, and learned to do both equally as well, been heartbroken, broken hearts, knocked my teeth out, felt what it’s like to have them pushed back in, met so many amazing people, knew and learned very different things from Bruce Lemon Sr., Paul Rudd, Jared Nathan, Milton Bynum and many other amazing men before they passed; gambled, almost died, sang, danced, both at my leisure and as a performance, felt like I haven’t done shit yet, realized I’m almost there, realized I don’t know anything yet, reminded you that you haven’t seen anything yet. I’ve forgotten too many things that should be added to this list. Please, feel free to chime in.
Next I will…
act, write, direct, produce, get married, have kids, buy what I need, buy what I want, make my mom’s co-workers and friends jealous, make my wife the most envied woman in a 2 continent radius, help teach and bring out the next generation of artist, win an Academy Award, give away a lot of money to kids just like me and nothing like me, live in another country, sky dive, bungee jump, cliff dive, parasail, ride a motorcycle, run a company, be mentioned in Forbes, host ridiculous parties, sing, dance, act, sing, dance, act, sing, dance, act, LOVE, repeat…LOVE some more. Surprise people, impress my mother with some amazing feat that she doesn’t already expect from me (that’s going to be a hard one), nail some things down, let some things go, hold on to what I love, release what doesn’t reciprocate, read more than I watch T.V. and write even more than I read, be one of the men that come up in conversation when a young man decides he wants to be a Kappa, be a one the famous alumni of NSD, go back to Hampton University change things up and do some very dangerous work with the theatre department, be a monster, be unexpected, do this impossible, be a superhero, be a man. I can’t tell you if these are all facts or just dreams but I know that if I put them in the air, something is bound to happen. I’d tell you more but I think you’d have more fun if you just watch the show.
