Wins and Losses

My daughters and I went to a screening of a documentary about the musical "Annie" tonight, a screening followed by a talkback with the filmmaker, the show "orphans," and members of the current creative team and a "hi" from the original writing team. Needless to say, for me, a person who works in the performing arts (even if not in theater), and for my daughters, self-professed theater geeks, the experience was exciting, and magical, and memorable. Not only did we get a window into the creative process (both of musical-making and of filmmaking), we got to do it in the presence of theater celebrities. Some might call it a win-win situation.

And then, on the way home, we (okay, I) realized that my cell phone had disappeared. And, in an instant, the win-win high of the night was crushed by the overwhelming feeling of loss. Loss not of the thing per se, but loss of a way to be in contact while commuting, loss of pictures (lousy quality pictures, but pictures taken on the fly, that live nowhere else but in the phone), loss of contacts and voicemails saved for sentimental reasons. Loss of confidence in my ability to keep track of things.

If I am lucky, the phone will turn up tomorrow, with just the challenge of going to get it. And then many of the losses will be rectified, at least by a day later. Many, just not the one about confidence. Because, for every string of wins that makes us feel great, it often takes just one loss to make that winning feeling go away. Will I get it back? Sure. And hopefully with a healthy dose of common sense to go along. And then, maybe, just maybe, I can go back to the win-win that tonight was supposed to be.