Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Flow

This was a good day in all its parts. My interviews for the new article I'm working on just blew me away, left me strumming and inspired and how the hell will I boil it all down in the writing? That's the next problem, but I won't worry about it just yet. The woman I interviewed this afternoon was a veritable quote factory. I just let her talk, telling her life story. I didn't even try to steer the conversation because everything she said was just so incredibly colorfully or profanely stated and so fucking profound. When I got off the call with her, I just sat in my chair with my hands pressed to my temples thinking, Holy Shit, I have not lived.

Then my son arrived home with a friend who is visiting from England, part of the former camp crew, and they are all getting together tonight, but for now there are four young men in my living room talking and laughing and reminiscing about that Miami Beach trip they took at the end of camp last year, and I love the happy sounds floating in to me where I am ensconced in my peaceful bedroom, the door closed, me tapping away here.

Earlier, my darling husband made dinner, chicken sate and boiled green bananas and salad with cherry tomatoes and roasted corn and it was delicious and had to stretch to feed all my son's friends, but we made it work. The man and I chatted as he cut and chopped and stirred, and I thought how hot he is doing the simplest things, even after all these years.

Just now our daughter called to say she finally knows where she will be located for her hospitality internship this summer: She will be in Chicago and she is so excited she can hardly stand it, though I now know exactly how my parents felt when I moved into my own apartment in New York City at roughly her age. This is one of those times when I need to quell my imagination which has always been way too active. I'm thrilled for her because she is thrilled for herself. And I'm definitely going to go visit!

I have nothing much else to report except life continues on, and there are things I could worry about if I wanted to but for the moment I have decided why worry about any of it, especially when there is nothing I can do at this moment to change any part of it, so I'm just here, saying good night to you all and then I will snap my laptop closed and go back to reading a tale of love set in Paul and Jane Bowles' hot, sultry Tangiers.



I love this photo of my girl and one of her lifelong best friends. They have birthdays a week apart and both now attend the same college and so they celebrated together while apparently narrowly avoiding setting fire to the dorm.


9 comments:

  1. How rich your life is! How lighter your heart since you no longer go to that office every day. It seems that way from here, anyway.
    And I love your attitude about the worry. Isn't it mostly like how the supper worked? Somehow, it just works and we can worry or we can just go with yes, the flow.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Which book? I tried to read one of his (Spiderweb or something such) while I was in Fez last year, but I didn't really get into it. Would love to try another!

    ReplyDelete
  3. i am glad you post here more often now.

    and the way you appreciate words shows not only in your discussion of other writers but in your own work.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love interviews that are inspiring and energizing. Years ago I interviewed a woman who had visited every country in the world except two -- Albania, as I recall, was one of the ones she'd been unable to get to (as of that point). Anyway, she was incredibly interesting and I loved talking to her and doing that story.

    I think your Alfred E. Neuman approach ("What, me worry?") is good! I can't wait to see some blog posts from Chicago this summer. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. You and Elizabeth are both so evocative! Sometimes when I hear of another woman's wild life, like the one you interviewed, I feel jealous and out of sorts. But I can't stop reading about them. I want to know what you're reading. I would guess Thirty Girls but it wasn't set in Tangiers. Your girl will be wonderful and have a wonderful time.

    ReplyDelete
  6. What a cool experience, interviewing and writing about such an inspiring person. Amanda Fucking Palmer makes me feel exactly like that, like she is just doing a much better job of being alive than I am.

    Congratulations to your daughter about her summer in Chicago, that sounds very exciting!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Lovely reading this post, trying to imagine the stories from your interview...
    Congrats to your daughter on her summer plans - Chicago!! I'm only an hour train ride away, so when you come to visit, if you want me to show you some sights, let me know. It would be lovely beyond imagining to meet you in person :)
    xo

    ReplyDelete
  8. wow you've got a lot of pots cooking! and you're wonderful family is still prospering!

    ReplyDelete
  9. It's nice when good stuff pours instead of just raining! That's great news about your daughter, congrats to her! And Chicago isn't all that far from home.

    The words to distill that interview into a beautiful article will come... 'cos that's just what you do :)

    ReplyDelete