Connections.

 

"I do what I like now. I just don't have time for it all." Gina Lollobrigida

Three weeks on the other side.

But this one REALLY feels like start of something new. The previous two weeks felt like I was on a long vacation. But, since I've never really had anything longer than two weeks out of work since I was around 23, we are now talking unchartered territory.

The funny thing is, before 23, I greatly I enjoyed my time off. I loved nothing more than happy tranquil days writing books and thinking deep thoughts. It got so bad at one point that my dad woke me up at seven in the morning, threw on the lights and opened the drapes to insist I go look for some sort of gainful employment.

I tell you. I was never meant to be a work horse. I just ended up that way, somehow.

So how did week three feel? Aside from the fact that I had the wisdom tooth removed Monday, I would say retirement so far is most closely analogous to the summer of my senior year of high school, or after college (before dad kicked me out of that bed one morning). Or maybe when I quit Tarhell and ran off to Scotland with an acting troupe.

I feel freedom. It's like a painful tooth that has been removed, and the rush of relief that follows. I feel like I am in a place where I have the potential to write books and think deep thoughts again. It's a nice feeling, like the feeling I had climbing to the top of Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh and just spent an afternoon taking in the scenery.

Of course with the weather and my tooth, I haven't been climbing any mountains. I have tried to build in structure, and every day I have assigned myself a task to complete, until the afternoon.

Not all have been entirely pragmatic. I spent a bit of time trying to get closer to my longtime goal of getting all my written journals online so I can see my life story at a glance. I journaled all through high school and some of college, and then have fits and starts until I resumed online in 2003. I would like to connect the dots, because there were distinct reasons I stopped each time.

This week, I made it through the month of June 1983 this week, which actually was the start of the summer of my senior year of high school. I peppered my ancient friends MB and Pauline all week long with funny entries I found. It's amazing how many entries use the phrase "xx was angry at xx." So much teenage drama!

I have a purpose for doing what I'm doing. I hope I can see it through.

But really, overall, the world has just felt free and creative. I think what has contributed is Corb's obsession with the British singer Raye, who was recently in Boston. He's been blasting her album non-stop, all the time, on repeat, over and over again. Raye has a very creative jazz inspired style of storytelling, and I think it's put both of us on creative tangents. She just gets the juices flowing. ("I hate the way I look today" is so funny and true and the closest I've ever heard someone channeling the spirit of Ella Fitz). As a result, Corb has been pulling together some really cool paintings and I have been scribbling things down furiously.

Raye sings in one song "they say the twenties are the best years of your life."

I'm not completely sure I agree.

So tonight, I raise a non-alcoholic Razzle dazzle martini and toast to extraction, to life unburdened and the fine art of making art, to writing and creating without restraint or borders. To late mornings and late nights, and late dinners with fine friends like Heather and Charley. There will be many Friday night martinis with other friends in the future.

As always, I raise a cup to all the awesome members of the Friday night Martini club! And love you, mom and pop! You truly mean the world to us. Have a great weekend, everyone.

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Post-Friday night scribblings

The dinner Friday night with Heather and Charley (and Corb's mom) was lovely. Heather has really taken an interest in Corb's mom and when we spoke with his mom one day in Ohio, she bumped into Charlie at a supermarket and he mentioned we were going out and that she should come along. It was a nice touch. 

We spent a lot of time talking about Heather's relatives in England. She will be going back for a family reunion in a few months, which doesn't happen that often. 

Of course, given our shared interest, theater was a topic. One of my favorite obsessions is talking about Ty, a city councilman who has been involved with the Eldredge Players for decades but has gotten a bit demanding in his old age. The last show, he tried to force the director to go to his house to audition, and for the current show, he insisted that his wife play piano for him. Given that his voice isn't exactly stellar, he wasn't cast in the last three shows, coming across as difficult, and insists that it's because the group discriminates against 70-year-old white guys. 

Every time he doesn't cast, he sends me a grouchy email. As if I have anything to do with it. I'm not the director! This time I kind of had it with him and told him off, saying he isn't a friend, he only contacts me when he has a complaint, to reach out to the director if he is upset, and NOT to try putting his lawn signs on my front lawn any more, because I won't take them. 

I am not really upset with him. But I knew the lawn sign thing would freak him out. He is obsessive about his lawn signs when he runs for election. We sometimes place garbage bags in front of his signs during election season just to gauge his reaction. 

Anyway, it was a lovely evening. I have so many people lined up to go out to dinner with now that I have Corporate retired. It's very fun. And I am starting to be able to eat again. By day five post wisdom tooth, I was able to eat pasta, no problem. 

Yesterday, we cleaned out the Eldredge Singers shop in the morning and then drove to Putnam for comics and antiquing. And dinner at the Court House. Lots of delicious hummus for me. 

And also, since I have been working on my journaling project and focusing on the year 1983, I have been inputting entries involving an old friend, Holly. She was someone I kept up a great correspondence with into college. We shared a love of Chess, Gilbert and Sullivan, Tom Lehrer and Noel Coward. We lost touch somewhere in college and I had always wondered through the years what had happened to her. 

Being the skillful sleuth that I am, I located who I believed was her last night, and said, what the heck, let me reach out. Turned out, I was right, it was! We had a lovely conversation. She is married with two kids and lost her parents a few years ago. Her dad died at 93 and had some memory issues but still had a sharp intellect. She's had some cancer issues but is doing well right now. 

She also does a lot of journaling, which I naturally love. It was a good conversation.

Reconnections through the years are one of the things I really love about the life we lead. I love the kindred spirits that you encounter through your journey, that you start a dialogue with and check in on as life goes on. My belief is that matter is neither created nor destroyed, it just changes form, and this dialogue among kindred souls isn't isolated to just this lifetime but continues on far longer than that. I know. I'm weird.