Visits To You

Visits to you are suddenly new
Suddenly everything's sacred
I've been here before
Will I be here again
Please tell me you'll never be taken

Is this another time
Or is this the last time
How much more time
When will time take away
My visits to you

Living with this, holding your hand
Knowing I'll have to let go soon
Living right now and right now and right now
Knowing I'll soon be without you

Is this another time
Or is this the last time
How much more time
When will time take away
My visits

And when you go where you're going
Where will you be going
I know I'll keep going
On my visits to you

Is this another time
Or is this the last time
How much more time
When will time take away
My visits

Is this another time
Or is this the last time
How much more time
When will time take away
When will time take away
When will time take away
My visits to you
~*~"Visits to You" Anthony Rapp

In honor of Without You, his book that came out on Tuesday, and is an absolutely amazing piece of literature. I got my copy on Tuesday at 11:30pm, went to bed, and read, and read, and read. When I finished it was 6:30 in the morning. Time for school, no sleep. But it was so worth it.

Last night Molly, Jaime, and I went to his book signing in Oak Park. It was quite an experience...

When we got there, a woman who worked at the store was just starting to go over the rules (because there were a LOT of people there... the small store was packed). Right away we saw Jonathan standing just a little bit in front of us, who soon turned around and waved. After a few minutes of talking, Anthony emerged from wherever he had been hiding in the depths of the store office or something.

He said hi, and introduced what he was going to read (the chapter Glory), and then began... the store was silent as he read, and the air vibrated with the excitement from all of Anthony's fans. I think I was one of the few people there who had already read the book. He read with passion, causing me to tear up right there in the store. When he finished, there was an uproar of clapping, whistling, and yells. In his usual modest manner, he said thank you, and then opened the floor up to questions. People asked away, some questions good, some not so great, some I knew the answers to, and some I had thought of myself.

Then he sang. He sang into the returned silence, Seasons of Love, all by himself. No music, and no 14 voices singing with him. It was unbelievable surreal. I could not truly be hearing an OBC member of RENT singing live, in front of me, 10 years later... but it was true. His voice soared, all alone, through the bookstore. Again when he finished, the same applause and assorted other noise erupted.

Over the next hour and a half, we snaked our way around the store, waiting for our turn for Anthony to sign our books. In the meantime:
1. We met new friends who were standing in line near us, and talked about RENT and Anthony, trading crazy stories.
2. Molly and Jaime went to get us coffee from Starbucks down the street, while I held our place in line. (After being up for 36 hours, I needed some energy...)
3. I created a game, "Judge the Book by its Cover," that is very good to play in bookstores... I would pull a book (one with people on the cover: a photo, drawn, abstract people, whatever...), and we would tell the story of the people based on the title, taking no more than a minute on any one book. This kept us entertained for about an hour. Haha.
4. Listened to Anthony's CD Look Around or to RENT on my iPod

And finally, some time after 10 o' clock, we reach the front of the line, after over 2 1/2 hours of being in the bookstore... One man takes my book, asks my name, and makes sure it will be spelled right, and one man takes my camera. I step up to the table. The man on my right hands Anthony my book and tells him my name. I hand him an envelope. "This is for you." He smiles, and says thank you like he means it. He signs my book, and then I ask if I can do the tango picture. hehe. He teaches me how, and my picture is taken. As he sits back down at the table, I tell him the book is amazing, and thank you so much for writing it. He looks a little surprised I have it read already. I tell him how I stayed up the night before. He says "Did you have school today?" I laugh, and nod. "It was really just that amazing."

Molly and Jaime get their books signed and pictures taken. We talk for a moment so a couple of our new friends, say goodbye, and walk out into the cool night air that feels so good after being in a crowded bookstore for 3 hours. The night seems so alive as we walk back to the car... Wow. Wow and wow and wow.

Now I wait for (hopefully) April 29th... the RENT 10th anniversary concert!

Oh - the posted pic is him answering a question. The pic of me with him has to be developed tomorrow, and then will be posted! Woot!

Love to all cause love is good!