Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered

Avid followers of this blog will be of the opinion that I’ve been a bit of a mess lately. They would not be wrong, either, especially given my recent (though now a month ago) musings on slaying the Jabberwocky are anything to go by. However, we come to a new year, which although entirely arbitrary gives us some chance to take stock of things and try to make motions to improve.

In Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s 1986 musical ‘Into The Woods’¹, an awful lot of very strange things happen. For the uninitiated, ‘Into The Woods’ is a merging of many fairytales into the same set of woods and surrounding areas, thus leading to Cinderella running into Jack (of beanstalk fame) and Red Riding Hood. I have it on good authority that it’s quite clever from a musical perspective. The striking thing about it is, however, the sheer volume of death in it; the second half is almost entirely killing off characters from the first if it’s not clear at this point, spoiler warning… and often in quite gruesome ways.

‘Moments in the Woods’ is the Baker’s Wife’s discussion of the morality of the fact she just did something in the woods with Prince Charming. In the end, she rationalizes it as “that’s what woods are for / for those moments in the woods”. She comes to terms with this, and then is crushed to death. Charming.

Someone told me recently that if you always have a song stuck in your head, you probably have ADHD, which is an interesting though probably false idea. On Tuesday morning, events transpired which led me to walk home at 3am with ‘Moments in the Woods’ stuck in my head. What I did know at that moment was that a lot of things had just fallen into place in a way that left me precariously stuck at the boundary of wanting so much more and to not push it so that it all falls apart. This is my major personality flaw; I cannot see the wood for the trees and will always err on the side of not changing the status quo.
Do I ruin that moment in the woods by examining it in the cold light of day?

By now, things have cooled off, and I’m very much afraid that it was just a peculiar passing moment. I am, however, left reminded of the song ‘Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered’, since if any three adjectives could have described me over the past five days, it would be those.

I’m wild again
Beguiled again
A simpering, whimpering child again
Bewitched, bothered and bewildered, am I

‘Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered’ by Rogers and Hart

Bewitched, because, well, that. Bothered because I feel like I should know what to do, and that maybe it’s not my place to be doing anything at all, and that maybe I shouldn’t be reading so much into any of this. Bewildered because once again I’m stuck not knowing what to do, still unable to read minds.

Is it time to grasp the nettle? To take the bull by the horns²? Or to continue waiting for those moments in the woods, and eventually be crushed?

Regardless, 2019 has already significantly improved on 2018. Therefore all that is left to say is a belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and we’ll see where this year wishes to take us, with or without intervention.