Skinnamarink!

That's the only word that properly describes how I feel.

As I am sure you are all aware, I went up to Toronto for the weekend. I LOVED IT! I had such a fantastic time. I am officially in love with this city and I cannot WAIT to move there. I left early Saturday morning and returned Monday night. I am still in shock about some parts of it. I went up to see Sharon, Lois and Bram. Yes, you read right. Yes, the people that sing Skinnamarink on the Elephant Show when I was a kid. I love them. They have had such a profound impact on my life. They never failed to put a smile on my face. So when an opportunity came to go to a city I’ve wanted to see for years and meet Sharon, Lois and Bram, I took it.

I went up with some friends; one in particular, Laura. She is amazing. We met a few months ago through a yahoo group and we hit it off right away. Until Saturday morning, we had never actually met in person, but to hear us talk with each other and see us together, you’d never know it. Anyway, she met Sharon, Lois and Bram about nine years ago and has been friendly with them ever since. So there was the possibility of meeting and talking with them! Added bonus, anyone? I was too excited for words.

The trip didn’t start out great, but I won’t talk about it, because the rest of the weekend was so spectacular that the bad stuff doesn’t matter.

On Saturday night, Laura and I decided to go for a walk around town for a little bit. It had rained all day and finally cleared up around 7 or so. We ended up getting dessert at a great place called RichTree. It’s truly amazing stuff. If you’re ever in Toronto, go. It’s great. The whole group went for dinner there Sunday night and had a blast. After our walk (and banana caramel crepe, yum) we went back to the hotel and met up with some other members of our group; Zach, Steve, Kris and Paul. I have NEVER laughed so hard in my entire life. We watched old Elephant Show episodes and looked and pictures. It was such a fun time.

Sunday morning came and I was really nervous. Steve had made cards for us to sign for the trio. I signed Bram's, no problem. I signed Lois', again, I did not have any difficulty. But when I picked up Sharon's, I was stuck. "How do I do this?" I eventually scribbled something down, hoping that it properly said what I meant and quickly got dressed. We met up with the guys and all walked to the theatre. It was farther than I thought it would be, but the subways hadn’t opened yet and none of us wanted to wait. It’s good that we didn’t. About 20 minutes after we got to the theatre and got on line, Bram walked up. He was so friendly, like I always knew he would be. He talked to us for a few minutes, gave us each a hug and went inside.

There was a photographer there taking pictures of the crowd and she asked us to pose for a few shots. We happily obliged. Then she asked for action shots. "Sing something." Ok. When the theatre doors opened, we were asked to sing on our way in. Again, we did so happily. When we walked in to the theatre, my heart stopped. There, in the front of the theatre, was Sharon. She was always my favorite. She was everything I wanted to be. She was everything I needed when I was a kid. Laura ran up to say hello and then she introduced us. She seemed happy to meet me, big smile. But then I handed her a card she sent me in January thanking me for the donation I made to Willow. She looked at it and her whole face softened.

“I remember you. That was so sweet.”

I don’t really know WHAT came over me but I timidly said “Sharon, can I have a hug?” I got an answer of “Of course you can!” and I swear to God, I have never been so happy. I thanked her and told her that it was very much worth the 20 year wait. Sharon had to move on to some other people in the audience so I went and sat down for a minute. I sat next to Steve and Paul.

"Patti, how you doing? Do you want a hug?"
"I would love another hug Steve... I got a hug from Sharon." I found Laura and had my tiny little momentary cry. I have never been so happy.

Then I met Lois. We talked for a few minutes...

“Lois, I was wondering…”
“Yeah?”
“Those costumes.”
“Oh. (eye roll) Which ones?”
“1978 to 1995.”

“Well you see. There are ‘professionals’. We were told that it was great and everyone knew what they were doing, but they really weren’t all that great if you ask me.”
“But Lois, YOU always looked good. But Sharon… I mean she had two different colored pant legs, shoes… She had pants with feathers! What was that?”
“Well, you see, I always knew that I wasn’t gonna do that. Sharon, you tell her to wear something, she wears it. It wasn’t until later that she thought, ‘Hmm, maybe I shouldn’t have done that.’ But there was a woman who designed some of our stuff. She had experience so what could we do?”

She went on to say how ridiculous one dress was, in particular.

"If you remember, Sharon had that weird, blue, dropped-waist dress which was nothing compared to mine. I had that hot pink thing. What was that? I mean, it was backless!"

I thought it was so funny, I hated that one too.

Then came my chance to ask my important question.

"Lois, do you think that the children's entertainment industry can survive the marketing executives and business people? Or do you think it's going to become more Doodlebops?" (Don't ask, they are terrible.)

"Don't say that word to me. Ugh. Them and the Wiggles. I can't stand the Wiggles."

I agreed. They creep me out a little bit.
I mentioned that Laura and I were going to release a children's album. "We're going to do what we like, what we think sounds good and if people with business degrees don't like it, tough. We're going to call it 'Patti and Laura. Deal!" She found this very funny. She went on to say that we "know what good music sounds like. It's not the stuff that's on now."

Cool. Lois and I were having a conversation, agreeing. It only got better when she said:

"Oh. And Hannah Montana. Ah."

The entire group groaned.

Eventually the show got under way. Sharon, Lois and Bram sang some songs, then there was the film presentation and then more songs. I had such a blast. I was so glad to be there. I hadn't participated when I was little. It was so wonderful to make things right.

After the concert we all went outside. I got the trio to sign the LP my Dad bought for me when he took me to a concert for my eighth birthday. Then we all took a big, group picture. Actually, we took several big, group pictures. Everyone had a camera. Sharon jokingly described the experience as "endless". Lois showed pictures of her new granddaughter, Tessa. She is seven months old and beautiful. I don't say that about all babies. Trust me. I've worked at a portrait studio, ugly babies exist. Seriously they do.

Sharon had an interview but agreed to meet with me and Laura after she was done. "Why don't we meet at Starbucks between 1:30 and 1:45?" Awesome. Before I knew it, there she was, walking across the street to our table. She sat down and we talked for a while. We talked about everything. Music, work, Toronto and both Laura and my plans to move there. It was lovely to see that Sharon understood how much it hurts Laura and me when people say "Oh, you want to do children's music? That's nice. But what are going to really do?" As if what we love isn't legit.

The entire conversation was great, maybe except for the story about her recent trip to Africa watching an animal sacrifice. "They just hold the animal by the neck and a friend checked with her chiropractor and he said that it's just like going to sleep." She has a really soft, sweet voice so you can only imagine how funny and freaky it was to hear her say it. I was a little scared actually. Sharon is a big fan of direct eye contact. She doesn't waver. Why she chose me to keep eye contact with during that exchange, I don't really know.

Eventually Sharon had to run to meet her sister and so we got up to say goodbye. She hugged Laura and then me and I thanked her for being my Pete Seeger (she has several times called him her hero). But she didn't hear me.

"I'm sorry. What did you say?"
This time, I was able to say it to her face not over her shoulder. "I said 'Thank you for being my Pete Seeger'" Now for the second time that day, she softened.
"Oh. You could not have said anything better than that." I had worked on it for a while.

We parted company and Laura and I commenced the giggle fest. I could not say enough how amazing I felt. We decided to walk just to see what there was to see. I found a little street corner shop and walked up to explore. The night before I had mentioned to Laura that I really wanted to find a pair of elephant stud earrings. I was shocked when there they were at the shop.

"Oh my gosh! My earrings! Look Laura, elephant earrings." Laura made the joke "Everything you've wanted has happened. You wanted a hug; to meet with Sharon and to find earrings. You need to say you want a billion dollars." I tried it. It didn't work. Laura bought a pair for herself and I got a pair for me and one for Sharon. I figured I would mail them to her. Laura was standing with her back to the street, making sure my elephants were straight when Sharon walked passed us and laughed. Us again? I saw her and squealed. "OH! We bought you earrings." She walked over, saw them, pulled out her earrings and put the new ones in. She said goodbye again and then Laura and I went for lunch.

The rest of the day is a blur. We went to a park, had dinner, stayed up late in the lobby talking about the decision to ACTUALLY record a record with Paul.

Monday morning came and we somewhat sadly packed the car and started the drive back home. When Laura and I parted in Springfield, my heart sank a little bit. It was over. But we're planning on going up in October to see them again. This time we'll get a picture with Sharon.

I must remember to email her: "Wear your elephant earrings."

End of novel.