{"id":12653,"date":"2026-09-05T13:56:33","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T20:56:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/?p=12653"},"modified":"2026-09-10T11:07:05","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T18:07:05","slug":"et-cetera-et-cetera-et-cetera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/et-cetera-et-cetera-et-cetera\/","title":{"rendered":"ET CETERA, ET CETERA, ET CETERA"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a story about my first (and life-long) crush.\u00a0\u00a0We met at the movies.\u00a0\u00a0I was perched between my mother and father in a grand theater near downtown Washington D.C., my little legs dangling well off the floor.\u00a0\u00a0I remember the thick red curtains opening ever so slowly, revealing a screen of vibrant colors.\u00a0\u00a0And then there was music\u2026an overture of rapturous sounds like I had never heard.\u00a0\u00a0Or felt. \u00a0Maybe this was the first moment I realized I was alive.\u00a0\u00a0I was\u00a0here\u00a0<\/em>in this world.<\/em><\/p>\n

And that was only the beginning.\u00a0\u00a0Because it wasn\u2019t long before I saw\u00a0him<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0The man who taught me my first words in Latin:\u00a0\u00a0Et cetera. Et cetera. \u00a0Et cetera. \u00a0<\/em>This exotic bald creature, with glittering clothes that hung loosely on\u00a0and\u00a0off his b-o-d-y.\u00a0\u00a0He wore an earring.\u00a0\u00a0Who does that?\u00a0\u00a0Mister Clean?\u00a0\u00a0I don\u2019t know if he\u2019s a good guy.\u00a0\u00a0Or a bad guy.\u00a0\u00a0And I don\u2019t care either.\u00a0\u00a0I love my daddy but now I love The King too.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This earth-shaking afternoon ignited my enduring passion for the music of Rodgers and Hammerstein.\u00a0\u00a0And Yul Brynner.\u00a0\u00a0I forgave him for playing \u201cRameses the Rotten\u201d in The Ten Commandments.\u00a0\u00a0But, like my father, I would never forgive him for smoking.<\/p>\n

I saw The King in person.\u00a0\u00a0Twice.\u00a0\u00a0The second time was at the Pantages Theater for his last Los Angeles whirl in The King and I. It was 1983 and Yul Brynner had received the dire news that he had inoperable lung cancer. \u00a0But still, he totally inhabited his role as the king and for those blissful two and a half hours, it was just the music, the king and me\u2026all over again.\u00a0\u00a0At the curtain call the audience cheered as he playfully spun one of the pedestal props around in circles and laughed–a deep, resonate exclamation of joy that bellowed clear up to the mezzanine.\u00a0\u00a0I can still hear it.\u00a0\u00a0I can still feel it.<\/p>\n

🛒<\/p>\n

But\u2026I also saw Yul Brynner at a local grocery store\u2026circa late 1960\u2019s.\u00a0\u00a0The story unfolds like this:<\/p>\n

Just as I am pushing my cart around the corner to the canned vegetable aisle,\u00a0there he is.\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0 Doing a full squat as he examines cans of green beans on the bottom shelf.\u00a0\u00a0I am several feet away, hanging onto the cart with a death grip.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s a Twilight Zone moment.\u00a0\u00a0Time stops.\u00a0\u00a0Everything disappears.\u00a0\u00a0Except him.\u00a0\u00a0I watch, in stunned silence, as The King gracefully rises to his feet, like a freaky middle-aged ballet dancer, drops a couple cans in his\u00a0<\/em>cart and rolls away.\u00a0\u00a0And just like that\u00a0he\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0gone, gone, gone.<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0And me?\u00a0\u00a0I can\u2019t get my legs to work.\u00a0\u00a0Fortunately there is no one in the general vicinity to witness this or tap me on the shoulder asking\u00a0if I\u2019m okay.<\/em><\/p>\n

After\u00a0regaining consciousness<\/em>, I resolve that the next time I see\u00a0someone, anyone<\/em>, whose presence has touched me deeply, I will put on my big-girl pants and thank them for their work.\u00a0\u00a0That lesson has stuck.<\/p>\n

😬<\/p>\n

So\u2026\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0What does all this have to do with my cracked night guard?<\/p>\n

Well my teeth-grinder-dentist retired and sold his practice to a new guy who re-opened the office in my old neighborhood, which today is upscale hip and has lousy parking.\u00a0\u00a0Not my kind of hang and it\u2019s been a long time since I\u2019ve walked along San Vicente Boulevard.\u00a0\u00a0My husband\u2019s night guard is wonky too so last month we both head north\u2026just a few miles\u2026into another world (and for me,\u00a0another time<\/em>).\u00a0\u00a0He scores a parking spot without a meter. Dude!<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when I spot \u201cTHE grocery store.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0OMG it\u2019s still there, with a big banner out front promoting its 78th Anniversary. I can\u2019t believe what I\u2019m seeing and all those Yul Brynner and daddy\u00a0<\/em>memories are flooding back. \u00a0In torrents.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I have to check this out<\/strong>\u00a0and Craig gamely follows me into the store.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s uncanny how my feet know exactly where to go.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cTo the left.\u00a0\u00a0Make a right.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Whoa!\u00a0\u00a0There are the green beans\u2014on the\u00a0same<\/em>\u00a0bottom shelf in the middle of the very\u00a0same<\/em>\u00a0aisle.\u00a0\u00a0My husband stations himself exactly where the\u00a0cart and I<\/em>\u00a0froze, lo those many years ago, and snaps a picture as I drop into my best Yul Brynner squat.\u00a0\u00a0Unlike his graceful re-ascension to a kingly stance, I have to push myself up with my hands. It\u2019s not pretty, but mind you, I\u2019m unpacking memories here, and doing the best I can\u2026at this intersection of past, present and\u00a0who-knows-what<\/em>.<\/p>\n

So I just try to take it all in.\u00a0<\/em>Breathe. Breathe. Give myself a little hug and an \u201catta-girl.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Because\u2026after all these years\u2026I\u2019m still here.\u00a0\u00a0And still amazed at the wonder of it all.<\/p>\n

Et cetera.\u00a0\u00a0Et cetera.\u00a0\u00a0Et cetera.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>
\u201cIf I’m remembered 100 years from now, I hope it will be not for looks, but for books.\u201d Thank you Dolly\u2026<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is a story about my first (and life-long) crush.\u00a0\u00a0We met at the movies.\u00a0\u00a0I was perched between my mother and father in a grand theater near downtown Washington D.C., my little legs dangling well off the floor.\u00a0\u00a0I remember the thick red curtains opening ever so slowly, revealing a screen of vibrant colors.\u00a0\u00a0And then there was music\u2026an overture of rapturous sounds like I had never heard.\u00a0\u00a0Or felt. \u00a0Maybe this was the first moment I realized I was alive.\u00a0\u00a0I was\u00a0here\u00a0in this world. … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12651,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[297,296,295],"class_list":["post-12653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blogentry","tag-seeing-hollywood-stars-in-person","tag-the-king-and-i","tag-yul-brynner"],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":2,"label":"blog entry"}],"post_tag":[{"value":297,"label":"Seeing Hollywood Stars in Person"},{"value":296,"label":"The King And I"},{"value":295,"label":"Yul Brynner"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Veggie-Isle-1024x527.png",1024,527,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Cali Rose","author_link":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/author\/crbauthor\/"},"comment_info":13,"category_info":[{"term_id":2,"name":"blog entry","slug":"blogentry","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":2,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":144,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":2,"category_count":144,"category_description":"","cat_name":"blog entry","category_nicename":"blogentry","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":297,"name":"Seeing Hollywood Stars in Person","slug":"seeing-hollywood-stars-in-person","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":297,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":296,"name":"The King And I","slug":"the-king-and-i","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":296,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":295,"name":"Yul Brynner","slug":"yul-brynner","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":295,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12653"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12653\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12663,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12653\/revisions\/12663"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}