Mangas, center, playing the role of “Queen” in the Indianapolis Junior Civic Theater production of “Sleeping Beauty” in 1968.
Have you had go-go dreams? A few years ago, a friend and her husband shared advice with me from their financial guru. Their moneyman recommended that she and her husband enjoy their retirement “go-go” years because “One day, your go-go years will turn into no-go years. Whatever you want to do, do it now,” he said, “before you reach those no-go years.”
Wise advice.
My current go-go dream is taking a European river cruise. Not sure that will come to pass, but as Dionne Warwick sang, “I’m wishin’ and hopin’ and plannin’ and prayin’” it might happen.
Fingers crossed.
Things I hoped to experience in life have changed over time. As a young girl, I was obsessed with books on polar explorations. I wanted to be the first woman to explore Antarctica. I chuckle at that idea now – what I was good at back then was reading. I was hardly a risk taker and not physically fit.
In my tween years, I dreamt of moving to California. I listened to Beach Boys albums endlessly and pined for a surfer-dude boyfriend. I was in love with the idea of flying down the Pacific Coast Highway in a Woody Wagon snuggled next to my surfer beau. His surfboard would be clamped to the roof, and we’d be on the go, searching for great beaches and big waves.
By the time I was 13, the British “invaded.” Suddenly, I was more interested in Swinging England than Sunny California. Mop-topped boys with English accents supplanted surfers as my objects of desire. I remember a cousin and I always discussing which Beatle we liked best and hoped to marry. We thought it would happen – same as about 50 zillion other girls during the era of Beatlemania.
In high school, I became involved in a public theatre program for young people. My best friends were there. We were theatre geeks dreaming of fame in New York or Hollywood. Never mind that we didn’t have enough talent or gumption to go beyond roles in high school productions. My widowed mother didn’t squash my dramatic dreams though. She barely flinched when I declared theatre as my major at Indiana University in Bloomington in 1969. However, by the second semester of my freshman year, my lofty goal of being the next Katherine Hepburn had all but disappeared. Heck, the theater department wanted every spare moment of my time, and there were too many other fun distractions on campus – more than half of the 29,000 students registered at IU that year were boys.
Midway through my sophomore year of college, I lost interest in academics. Mom permitted me to leave IU with the stipulation that I must support myself. My next big dream didn’t include working at RCA assembling TVs, but I found myself doing just that. I wanted to stay in Bloomington, and job options there for college dropouts were limited. My dreams got put on hold as I struggled to “find myself.”
But I finally figured it out. Life took a turn for the best in January 1977 when I married Mike. He wasn’t a Beatle or a surfer dude, but I found something better. Someone who offered me enduring love and unwavering support. And instead of a career on Broadway, I rocked babies and wrestled teenagers, and I’m happy with that. Life is full of plot twists. I may reach no-go without more go-go, but I’ve known the promise of faith, as well as true love and the gift of children and grandchildren, and they have given me more in life than I ever dreamed possible.
Sharon Mangas is a Columbus resident and can be reached at [email protected]. Send comments to [email protected].
