lifeinthealong.com
repository for the occasional perambulatory rumination

Feb

7

knee-slapping times today

Filed Under Blisses Me Off

today i am absolutely, positively blissed off about people who have a sense of humor. i am SO glad there are still people out there who know how to take their work seriously and other things (and people) lightly.

there’s this one, patti digh, whose blog is called 37 days. patti is killer when it comes to slinging words together. killer, i tell you.

well, yesterday she posted a story about a particular scarf she came to own, and in true patti style, the scarf story was an hors d’oeuvre for her real main point about how we have a way of getting our panties in a wad cause we don’t get what we want without ever once considering that maybe we don’t get what we want cause nobody knows what we want.

which really hit home with me cause when it comes to what other people want, i’m what you’d call a locked-on radar girl. shoot, more often than not i know what other people want before THEY know they want it.

BUT

when it comes to what i want, well, that’s a horse of a different shoe. ask me what i want, you get solid air cause i’m totally clueless. really. Q: why do you think february is devoted to writing about things i love? A: in hopes of developing some clarity in the area of who i am and what i want and what i might be good at.

so i read patti’s fantastamoscious essay that ended with encouragement for readers to give some serious thought time to identifying what we want then asking for what it is we’ve decided we want. right at the end of the essay are all the comments other folks have left, so i read all the eloquent, articulate comments, then i laughed right out loud cause i knew EXACTLY what i wanted to say.

but i wasn’t sure it would come across right, i mean email being what it is and all.

so i asked my husband - gave him the setup then read my comment.

he chuckled.

then i called my boy in l.a. gave him the setup then read him my proposed comment.

he laughed.

then i tweaked and agonized some more cause i did NOT want to sound like a mean-spirited moron. i even considered explaining my comment - maybe in parentheses at the end - but really there’s nothing like explanations to totally erase any trace of humor. so finally i just mashed the “post” button and went to bed.

here’s what i sent:

ahem.

AHhem.

me-me-me-me-me.

CanIhavethatscarf?

That. Very. One.

(How’d I do?)

i mean, what’s the worst that can happen, right? besides, chilihead and shannon say you have to develop a thick skin to get out on the blogway, so i might as well start right this very.

then this morning before i left to take mother to school, what do you think i found in my emailbox but this from patti:

Jeanne - girl, you made me laugh so hard I spit my tea onto my keyboard. Um…let’s see. I think Mr Brilliant would weep if I sent you that scarf (smile), but because you asked, I will send you sumpin-sumpin else made by MY little hands if you will email me with your address. No kidding! pattidigh at gmail dot com.

thanks for the laugh - I really needed that.

love,
patti

she GOT it, patti got it. she knew i was playing. (though i wouldn’t've turned down the scarf either, i hasten to add.)

i was so tickled, i fired her off a response (including my mailing address, of course) right on the spot. and for no reason i can think of then or now, i told her i was on my way out the door to take mother to senior school. told her how i loved going cause i am the youngest one there AND i’m taking yoga and feel so darn flexible amidst those older gals.

and just as soon as my reply was whirring its way to patti, i regretting saying that bit about yoga at senior school. i mean, how snarky can you get? but i couldn’t take it back, of course, and it was time to go, so i just did all i knew to do: i said (right out loud so miss spiritgirl would hear me) “i am so sorry for letting those words come out my fingertips.”

but miss spiritgirl, she made SURE i got the message about snarkiness. i got to yoga and spread out my new cushy mat in the very back row. and bless goodness if i didn’t have a FANTASTIC view of all the other girls in the class. there they were, moving in ways i can only dream about. while all around me touched their toes, it was an effort for me just to grab my KNEES. (i did once manage to grab hold of the hem of my cute little zenergy pants from chico’s, but then i realized it was not cause i had loosened up, it was only cause my pants had ridden up on me some.)

so i came home and fired off another email to patti apologizing for being so snarky-mouthed. i mean, here i am, new girl on the blogblock, out trying to make new friends, then i go and send something like that.

honestly.

but that’s not all.

i didn’t send either one of the emails - the first one this morning or the later on that was more apologetic in tone - to the email address patti told me to use. feel like a clumsy oaforator, i do.

anyway, after several more emails, i’ve finally gotten everything straight with patti. she says everything’s good. [insert sigh of relief] she even said my comments didn’t sound snarky to her.

what do you know: a nice, intelligent, talented woman with a sense of humor. one of many i am blissed to know.

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