jeanvieve

Janet's memorial potluck was today. I'm saddened that I never got to meet a woman with whom I am now certain I would have just adored at first hello. People gathered and stood up if they had stories, and I enjoyed listening to them. She apparently sponsored a great many AA types, and after a while when people would get up to the Mic it would go something like this:
Woman: Hi, my name is Sue.
Us in Chorus: Hello, Sue!
Woman: Oh. Uh, I've known Janet for about x years. She was my sponsor.

Until this brilliant man that I could have kissed:
Man: Hi, my name is Bob.
Us in Chorus: Hi, Bob!
Man: I'm.. I'm a diabetic.
*the room dissolved into hysterics. It was beautiful*

His joke after this opening: There were about two weeks in the Vatican where they couldn't locate the holy father. They were about to call the cops when they found him down in the archives and vaults. He'd been reading the histories of the church, the laws, the changes, the whole shebang in Hebrew, Latin, Arabic, Aramaic. When the search party came upon him, tears were streaming down his face. He held up a crumbling text: "The word is CELEBRATE!"

Again, we lost it. But he also read a really good quote about how it's not what you have or who you are that matters after you're gone - and you ARE GONNA DIE. All of us, ending. Eventually. But it's who we touch and what we teach and how we make the world better. Brutally honest, and yet a bit sappy. I got teary.

So came home and made veggie risotto with wild mushrooms and asparagus and tomatoes and olives and big hunks of garlic and wine. It went over very well. We sat and watched Charlie Wilson's War together. Now I have to buy it. Favorite misquotes:
"Do you drink?" "Oh God, yes."
"They want me to be on the House Ethics committee." "What, they don't have enough womanizing drunks?" "We're under represented."
"The only incredible feat you've pulled off in congress was being reelected 5 times."
"My constituents only want two things. They want their guns, and they want lower taxes. In return I've been able to vote Yes on a lot of things for a lot of other people."

All in all, brilliant. Phillip Seymore Hoffman again, fantastic. Tom Hanks - understated and subtle. And the writing was the best I've heard in years. I urge you all to netflix if it you haven't seen it already.