With the close of “The Andrews Brothers”  at the RTG, Kathy and I also found ourselves bidding farewell to our houseguest Andrew Lenox,  one of the aforementioned Andrews Brothers and a former student of mine at Carthage.  Drew graduated in May but actually had to stick around over the summer to take care of a few final credits (the joys of changing majors) and because Carthage’s dorms closed the day that the show opened,  he could only be in the show if he had a place to stay.  Kathy and I were only too happy to reopen the Caleb Sjogren / Paul Marchese / Trevor Parker / Vanessa Schroeder / Marshall Anderson memorial guest suite. . . and Drew proved to be an absolutely wonderful guest.   That was no surprise, but what did surprise us is how much we saw of Drew;  it was nice that he was so interested in hanging around a couple of senior citizens like us.   He did some painting for us (as mentioned in the blog entry Colorful Character) – went on a couple of shopping expeditions with Kathy – showered attention on our dogs – and was a HUGE help to Kathy in getting us ready for our big cast party.   But I think my favorite memories of our ten days with him are with the meals we shared together- especially the meals Kathy cooked here at the house to introduce Drew to a few simple recipes that would be easily within his grasp.   And when you live with Greg Berg for ten days,  you certainly have to watch a few documentaries. I introduced Drew to the opening episode of a magnificent PBS series from 20 years ago called “Hollywood” which celebrates the silent film era.   We watched a Metropolitan Opera documentary called “The Audition”  which should be required viewing for anyone interested in being an opera singer.   And we watched an incredible POV documentary called “The Way We Get By”  which follows the efforts of three senior citizens in Bangor, Maine who are committed to greeting all of the U.S. troops who pass through the Bangor airport on their way to or from Iraq and Afghanistan. The tears started flowing almost right from the beginning and they were still flowing as the closing credits crawled across the screen.  (I’m talking about me-  I didn’t pay attention to whether or not Andrew was similarly moved.  But he watched with rapt attention.)   But my very favorite memory is when Drew accompanied me as I brought five boxes of books to Half Price Books in Milwaukee.   The bad part of the trip is that Drew was offered only $8 for the ten books he brought . . . an offer he rightfully refused . . . but the nice part was that he had such a nice chance to catch up and especially to talk about the next chapter in Drew’s life and his hopes for the future.   My crazy schedule means that I very seldom get to have that kind of unhurried interaction with my students,  which made me appreciate this just that much more.

Anyway,  Sunday was the last performance of the show- and by now Andrew is back home in Rockford, waiting to head down to the University of Illinois to begin his graduate work in Stage Management.   And 5631 Hillside Drive feels mighty big and empty.   You know, one of the silver linings of not having kids is that at least you get to avoid things like the Empty Next Syndrome.   But after the great pleasure of having Drew here for ten days,  we are experiencing at least a whiff of that Empty Nest thing.  If he had been a pain in the you know what,  we’d be thrilled to have the house back to ourselves.  But when your houseguest is polite, appreciative, helpful,  tidy . . .   the whole Boy Scout ball of wax . . .  then we end up feeling something else altogether when it’s suddenly just us and the dogs.

pictured above:    I love this picture, which I took during “strike,”   which is when the cast and crew dismantles the set, costumes, and props immediately after the final performance.   Drew is dismantling a Rosie the Riveter billboard.