1,000 words

Okay, in the interest of me not losing my shit to the toilet of negativity, I’ve decided to do something different today.

But let me just preface this with my phone just ringing, me getting all excited because it’s from a 312 number, so it’s probably about a job, and maybe the Historical Society.

It was some makeup lady at Marshall Fields. I can’t believe it. I’m not going to cry, but I could.

SO! On after a fine walk last night I stopped to look at my pictures, and I have many. And I love them. And I love the people in them. And realized that if my life had been perfect, but I never would have met these amazing people, then I choose for my life to be imperfect, just so I could have them back. So, to explain, I will begin with the picture of my friend John.

The picture is of John about, gosh, 10 years ago at least, more like 12. And he’s standing in front of the sign for the Improv Comedy Club. This was back in the dying days of standup, when there were still Improv’s around, with the brick walls and the microphones.

It was the closing day of this particular club, and John was my boss there. We worked in the box office, he was my manager.

I had just come home from Colorado, where my life had taken a surreal and horrible turn. I came home and said out loud “I want to work at the Improv”. That day there was an ad for a box office person. John called, I interviewed, I got the job. I’ll never forget my interview, for some reason, in this huge cavernous place, they interviewed me on the stage, and I thought I was going to heaven.

And I had. That was BY FAR, the best job I’ve ever had. I worked with about 5 men who treated me, as I like to be treated, like the littlest sister. They teased me about heartaches so badly, that I couldn’t have the heartache anymore. We laughed and laughed and they took good good care of me. I fell in love in that place, I fell out of love there, I made an ass out myself there and I had my brightest moments there.

If that place had never closed, I can’t begin to imagine what my life would have been like.

And my friend John, standing in front of the sign. It pleases me because he’s still my friend. One of my dearest. He’s my missing brother. I can say ANYTHING to him, he understands me, and I have to explain nothing. He can make me pee in my pants, and I don’t say that lightly. Not everyone can do that, not like he can.

He is one of my greatest friends, and was with me during one of my greatest times. I love him and I love the ghost of that place. I’m a lucky girl for having had it.

So on to brighter thoughts and luckier days.