Anne Lamott Comes To Town And I Get Surprised By Life

So last night was Anne Lamott night at the First United Church of Oak Park. Unfortunately, I missed the first 20 minutes because I'm still not used to the fact that it can take 50 minutes to drive 15 miles in damn-blasted city-land. Bygones.

Upon entering, I noticed two things: This was a pleasant church (with a pipe-organ and real live pews!). Also, 90% of the audience was middle-aged women.

Now, I have nothing but goodwill towards middle-aged women. My mom is a middle-aged woman. And she's a really good mom. But I've never actually met an Annie Lamott fan who was a middle-aged woman. Everyone fan of Miss Lamott I know is either a college-age/20-somethingish, or has the last name Doughty. So basically, I expected a bunch of people my age, a smattering of elderly church goers, and the Doughty's. Instead, it was mostly just The View x 100, only with lots more gray hair and Bush-hating.

So now I need to go sit in a corner and rethink life a bit. Because if I was wrong about this, I could be wrong about everything else there is to be wrong about in life plus infinity.

Oh, and P.S., Miss Lamott was very funny, very frank, and very much in her element as a storyteller. As an audience, we were very well behaved, I think. There were plenty of hushed silences, hearty chuckles and bouts of applause to be had. Also, her voice is a little bit nasally. And finally, she signed books. Which was weird.

The End