Tuesday, September 17, 2013

On fame and love

My friend Paul is featured in a new Sprint commercial. He's famous now in the art world but that doesn't make me love him any more or less. Paul will always be that sweet, caring, high school boy who ate lunch in the band room with me everyday and made me smile at every choir rehearsal; my Lothar.



I've been thinking about famous lately. Mostly because I'm friends with a lot of ridiculously awesome people who happen to be published authors or actors or opera singers. It's a very surreal feeling to know that people you care about are in commercials or singing with people you idolize--cough cough, Kat singing with Rufus Wainwright. Oh, you know, no big deal.

In general, famous people aren't that exciting to me. I barely can remember actors' names and Sean thinks I'm funny because even very famous actors escape me. Burt Reynolds and Tom Selleck? I can't tell those two apart to save my life. I am way more starstruck for authors than I would be for movie stars and musicians. There's something about reading someone's stories that just makes me care so much about the author. Writing is so personal.

Although bumping into Jackson Browne would be nice, too.

It's his lyric:

I'm gonna find myself a girl who can show me what laughter means
and we'll fill in the missing colors in each others' paint-by-number dreams.
And then we'll put our dark glasses on and we'll make love until our strength is gone
and when the morning light comes streaming in, we'll get up and do it again.
Get it up again.


Have mercy.

Friends of mine who become famous will always just be friends of mine. I'm proud of them, but friends like Paul haven't changed simply because he has 475,000 Instagram followers. He's just my high school buddy. I have lots of friends who make me proud: teachers, EMTS, police, firemen, nurses, and friends who are really good people. Friends who make this world more beautiful.

*

Speaking of high school buddies, the kids and I met up with my dear friend Lissa and her adorable kids this morning. She lives 14 hours away and I haven't seen her in probably ten years. We were glad to meet up with her at her parent's house to play.

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Her boys are three and 3 months. Sweet, sweet babies.

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I only wish we didn't live so far away. These boys would play trucks for days if we let them.