Patty Griffin sometimes says it best…

I hope everyone has a great weekend. In a little bit I will be loading up my car and heading to a womens retreat… I’m hopeful for a good weekend and a chance to meet some new people.

I know that I’ve talked about it before and have had another post about it before, but I need to pay respect to the Springfield Cinema, or the person who ran it forever tonight.

We have a small theater in Springfield, one screen, no surround sound and the “big” remodel happend long enough ago to where it’s time for another. It’s a theater that if you look and really pay attention, you can tell that back in the day it was THE place to go, there is still a whisper glamour somewhere in the walls. There is a balcony – although I only ever legally sat there during the aforementioned “remodel” and I remember being ran out of it more times than my father cares to know about.

My middle school was close enough where once a year each grade would get to walk to a show and watch some new Disney flick. And family holidays were often not complete without a movie, sometimes walking in snow to gaze at the Christmas lites on the street on our way home.

And there was always the same manager there. Johnny who, when I was younger scared me enough that I would never cause a problem, who while I was a teenager I believed the whispers that he lived in an apartment upstairs sleeping among old film canisters. And as I have opened my eyes and payed attention I have realized that he was as much part of the institution as the building and space itself. He was always there, I can say pretty honestly that I have never seen a movie where he wasn’t at the front making sure things weren’t being ran right. Of course now, instead of standing and watching, he was sitting to the side observing and I like to think saying goodbye in his own terms.

At the end of January, Johnny retired. There was no big write up in the paper, channel 4 didn’t come to do a news worthy piece on him, and to my knowledge there was no pomp and circumstance from the patrons. But I would like to think that for one night, perhaps as he finished his last shift and turned the keys one final time that maybe the lights flickered for Johnny as if to say goodbye and goodnight.

no idea what to say tonight. I’m really behind on here. Lost a friend this weekend and am still processing. But I’m so thankful for my family…. will add more later but lets do something random instead.

Things I am currently obsessed with:

1. Early morning workouts
2. tea, tea, tea – loving a good cuppa
3. writing – I’m back in the habit and I have ideas flying all the time. need to remember to carry a notebook with me
4. British TV Shows (netflix is only aiding this problem)
5. My apartment – it’s a little home and very cozy to boot
6. NettiPot – haha – enough said
7. Good hair days – and making the most of them
8. cooking at home, trying to master the smallest kitchen I have ever had
9. Local radio
10. lists….

Love this song right now. It’s one that I would listen to several times in a row. There isn’t a cool video with it, but just listen for a bit.

So, living alone… kinda nice. I didn’t think I would be a fan, thought I would be bored in fact, but it’s actually nice. Here are some of the things learned, in a good way.

• Don’t have to worry about the state of your pj’s
• Alarm clock going off is only yours and not someone else’s who forgot to turn it off
• You can cook what you want and not worry that someone hates the smell of brussel sprouts (my favorite food, odd I know)
• Toliet paper – if you don’t buy it, you can’t “borrow” some of your roommates
• It’s not someone elses turn to do the dishes
• or clean the bathroom
• or take out the trash
• Don’t have to share the tv remote
• When you’re sick you don’t have to worry about making someone ill
• but then there is no one to to the sprite and cracker run for you
• so you realize how priceless the people who bring you things are

I am enjoying the time alone and I think I’m learning much about myself and what I like and don’t like at all. I can see why some people start living alone and never want to cohabitate again. And then I can see why some live alone and are never there – because one more night without someone to share the day with seems endless and makes you want to scream.

But it’s  okay, I think I’m walking a fine line between the two. I stay pretty busy and I am one of the lucky one’s with family and friends who are always around. It makes me appreciate both sides of the fence so much more.

A few years ago I sat in a crowded theater and watched a movie entitled “Hotel Rwanda” it was heartbreaking and inspiring and there are images that have haunted me since and lines that have resounded in my head. There is this moment in the film with the Protagonist makes a plea to journalists to record and show the horrible events taking place in his country and surely the people who see what he records will be able to help… the journalist responds in effect that there is no point, sure it’s horrible but people will see the images and will say “oh that’s horrible” and will turn back to their dinners and will forget. Of course I paraphrase but you get the idea.

Now there is another horrible event that has taken places through our televisions and our blogs and our twitter accounts. We have seen live feeds, and have seen grief stricken pleas and horrible images.Haiti, and place that already needed help has been devastated by an earthquake. And I do mean devastated in one of the worst ways.

“Hotel Rwanda” was a movie about a genocide and the events in Haiti have been brought about by an earthquake, so I do get that it’s a bit different. But we can DO something, and I’m not saying that we all need to pack our bag and take a flight to hand out water – really they don’t need that, but we can do other things. There are easy ways to donate – you can even text a donation that benefits the Red Cross and just adds a small fee to your cell phone bill, instead of lunch out one day this week you can go and donate blood. In Nashville there is an organization called Project Cure that sends medical supplies to countries and you can volunteer your time or money or items… or all of the above. I’m selfish and I know that, but if we all do a little bit, then as a whole we can do so much together.