The Music of the Nigh

I seem to be on a roll...with musical music lyrics and inspiration.  Why break a good trend?  Here we go...see if you can remember where it's from;

Slowly, gently night unfurls its splendour...
Grasp it, sense it - tremulous and tender...

If you don't know those lyrics, or have never heard them...you've been living under a rock for a good part of 23 years.  It's from Broadway's longest running show, The Phantom of the Opera (opened in 1988 and has been running ever since!!!).  So if you think about the lyrics...there's some truth to them.  Nigh...it's quiet, it's mysterious and it draws you in.  You've seen few if any horror movies that take place during the day.  All the strange, weird things happen in the night.  Now don't get me wrong...the night is not ALWAYS a bad thing.  After all night is when the stars come out...it's when you get to see fireworks...it's when you MIGHT get the chance to see a UFO!  Lots of things happen at night.  But, if you grew up in my house...and under the rules of my Mother (God rest her soul)...nothing good came out of the night.  I can remember being in High School...and if you've been a faithful follower and read all of my blogs, you know that I wasn't much of a party animal.  For me it was a little "Hook and Latch", a little Love Boat and a little Fantasy Island (RIP Tattoo...."the plane, the plane")  I can remember the few times (I can count them on less fingers than one hand has to hold) when I wanted to stay out late...that being after 11 pm.  The answer..."NO".  I would beg and plead...asking for only an extra hour or two...until 12 or 1....again, "NO".  I would always ask, "...but why?"  MOM:  "You don't need to know why.  The answer is NO."  ME:  "But everyone else gets to stay out until then."  MOM: (she wasn't very original...so I got the classic answer) "If everyone else jumped off a bridge, would you?"  ME:  (in thought only...I really just wanted to scream "YES, YES...THAT'S THE PLAN...WE'RE GOING TO ALL STAY OUT LATE AND JUMP OFF A BRIDGE TOGETHER!!!!"  As I knew that an answer of that nature would have gained me the "back hand" (parents still disciplined back then)  I just said) "No....I guess not."  She would go on to clarify and say that nothing good happened that late at night.  Hmmmm....what did she know?  What DID happen after 11 that was so awful?  And if there was something specific...shouldn't she at least tell me so that when the day did come...and I was making my own decisions to stay or not to stay out late....that I would make the appropriate choice?  Well, I just filed that thought away and went on with my life.  Flash forward to the college days and that very choice came up.  I can remember the first week of college.  There was some curfew that you had to be out of the dorm of the opposite sex by midnight (hmm..seems to be a weird theme about the bewitching hour).  ***Side note*** if only I had known my sexuality back then, they may have wanted to change that rule...when it pertained to me!  Back to the story....  So a few guys from my dorm went to go visit some girls we had met.  We were all just sitting around in their rooms when we heard foot steps....it was after 12....and here came the RA.  Oh no...it's week one and we're all going to get in trouble.  We didn't know what that trouble meant....but we didn't want to find out.  What do you do?  Not what I would normally choose (and before I say what I did, I want my Goddaughter Maggie, whose a freshman at UT in Austin - SHOUT OUT - HEY MAG!!!!  and her Mother (my BFF/Sister) to stop reading.......waiting.......waiting.  Have you stopped reading yet?  See, a situation happened with Maggie and her BFF Adriane during the final days of Senior year, and Maggie did not do what I did (good kid) although Tina told her she should have...and I disagreed)  OK...so what did I do?  I RAN!  The last thing that "I" was going to do was get caught.  I may have often broken the rules...but I NEVER got caught.  As we ran I remember hearing "STOP, STOP RIGHT NOW!"  Yeah, that was gonna happen.  Long story short...we got away, the girls got a bunch of community service (can't remember who they all were, but if they're out there and by the slightest chance they're reading this...thanks.  They never ratted us out.  All of the waterboarding, electroshock treatment, withholding of food...they never ratted us out.  Just goes to show that no matter how good a friends you think those people are at the time...you'll lose track of them.)  WOW, I hadn't gone off on a diversion like that in a LONG time!!!  Anyway, it just went to show that something weird DOES happen after midnight.  Was THIS one of those situations that my Mother should have told me about?  Nah...it wasn't that big of a deal...this couldn't be it.  Let's flash forward a several years.  I graduate from Loyola University of Chicago (Major in Marketing with a Minor in Philosophy...and on the Dean's List - HEY SHOUT OUT TO MYSELF - HEY!) and move to Dallas, TX.  My first few years in Dallas were quite tame.  Initially I had a roommate and I was trying to make my mark at work, so I worked hard and put in the hours (for all of you recent graduates...don't kill yourself trying...10 years later I got surplussed...trust me, your only a warm body until they don't need you anymore.  Bitter party of one?  HERE!!!)  OK, so I worked hard and didn't play THAT much.  Well...once I realized WHO I REALLY was...actually, admitted what my TRUE sexuality was....I kinda came out of my shell.  I finally found a place of comfort in being me.  I stopped fighting what I was told was WRONG all my life and lived the life that God planned for me.  If you haven't figured it out yet...I by NO WAY believe that being Gay is a choice.  It's too rough of a life...with discrimination and hate...to self-will it on yourself.  Like Lady Gaga says, "Baby I was born this way!"  Wow, from Andrew Lloyd Weber to Lady Gaga...all in one blog.  Who'd a thunk it?  Anyway, once I came to terms with the life that I had been dealt...everything fell into place.  I found additional friends (still kept my original friends, because to me, being Gay is the who I am behind closed doors, my friends come from all walks of life!)  and started dating.  So blah, blah, blah...life goes on, and it happens.  I start finding myself out later and later at night.  In the back of my head, I always wonder when the other shoe will drop.  It's like that old cartoon (one that Ellena and I BOTH love) Gazoo (google him if you don't know who he is), but instead of Gazoo on my shoulder is a mini version of my Mom.  She's saying, "Nothing good happens late at night."  I look to my shoulder and "POOF" blow her off!!!  So one night I'm out late...have a few drinks....la la la....da dum, da dum, and it happens.  I'm talking to this guy, one thing leads to another, and .....yep.....we're leaving together.  ****CENSORED****  (sorry no details, but let's jump to the morning...yes we stayed the night together.  Please, get over it...like you never did it?  Whatever!!!)  Wake up...look over and.....O M G.  THIS IS WHAT SHE WAS TALKING ABOUT.  Who is this person?  How much did I drink?  Without getting into a LOT of details....THIS is what happens after 12, 1, 2....you drink too much, and you let your guard down.  The lights are low (I should sue that bar) and like the Phantom said, "...night unfurls its splendour....".  THIS is what she was talking about.  Did she know?  If she did....didn't she have a Motherly obligation to tell me?  Did she live through this herself?  (Yeah, I can answer that...NO.  She liked a good joke in her old age, but was a way BIGGER prude than me as a youngster and didn't get around...I guarantee!!!)  She didn't live it, but she knew.  She had to!!!  So for all you parents out there who are sending your boys and girls off to college this year...and you will NOT be able to set their curfew....TELL THEM!!!  BE BLUNT!!!  Grow a pair and be honest!!!  And for you boys and girls that are at college, away from home and deciding on your own curfuew...LISTEN TO ME when I tell you....make the right choice....LISTEN to your Momma.  Meet these "creatures of the night", have a drink with them and then go home.  Meet them again the next day and see what they REALLY look like....out of the "ambient light" and without your "beer, vodka, rum...whatever goggles" on.  DON'T live through the horror of the next morning.  Hmmmm...so maybe that's why I don't LOVE fireworks, scary movies or stars for that matter?  Maybe that's why I'm NOW in bed by 9 and up by 7.    And like Andrew Lloyd Weber says in the end, and don't take for granted "...the power of the music of the night."