Pure Awesomeness

Yesterday was pure awesomeness.  Today will be hard because I've got to be a test monitor at school, but the good part about that is that my job will be to walk up and down the hallway non-stop....good exercise, and I'll be able to remember and savor all the wonderful parts of my day yesterday.

We had our church staff random birthday party yesterday.  Yesterday was the fake birthday of Rev. Nancy and Sue.  The theme was Maxine and Paula went all out in thoughtful planning.  We all had a blast.

All day long I was distracted though, (I got five minutes of productive work done.) because Anne Lamott was coming to town!  Anne Lamott is one of my favorite authors.  She and Barbara Brown Taylor have the knack of speaking directly to me.  I couldn't wait to see her in person.

What I love about Anne is that she cusses and she loves Jesus.  No, really.  She is humble, honest, and real.

Anne was scheduled to speak at Arborlawn UMC at 6:30 p.m. I was so excited and so afraid it'd be a packed house (it was) that I arrived at 4:50.  They weren't letting anyone in the sanctuary, so I sat in the foyer.  The only other non-church member there at that early hour was a man named Mike who introduced himself and immediately asked me if I was a writer.  Weird.  He isn't a writer, but he wanted to know if I was. I told him no, but then he started telling me I should start journaling, and then I stopped him and corrected myself.  "I am a writer, actually," I told him.

I spent quite a while with my new best friend Mike, who told me I should be taking deep breaths because he was afraid I was so excited I might hyperventilate.  (No, I did not.  I did take deep breaths, though, because they are always good.)  I told him that I knew I was being rude, but I was going to constantly look at the door instead of him so we could be the first ones in the sanctuary.  I think I might have intimidated him a little.

We finally got to go inside.  I showed my UMC nametag in hopes that would get me in early, but alas, Anne Lamott fans were all treated fairly, so I had to wait like everyone else.  I was able to nab half a pew on the second row, which was my goal anyway, so it all worked out perfectly.  I had recruited my friends Rev. Nancy and Robin to sit with me and they were so kind and tolerant of my enthusiasm.

Anne was fabulous.  She was funny, honest, and said many thought-provoking bits that I will work on remembering so I can quote her later.  I've got a few down, but am thinking about it all.

On rough drafts...."The first draft is child writing, the second draft is the adult, and the third draft is..."...I forgot.  Must try to remember all the details.

"Addictions are all the same in that you desperately want something that is terrible for you."  She spoke of being addicted to things I hadn't thought of before (shopping, being needed, and some more things I have to go think about.)

There was a question and answer time, so I jumped up, and stepped all over poor Rev. Nancy (she said she wasn't injured), and got to the microphone first.  I said, "My name is Sarah and I want to tell you thank you.  I love you.  Can I hug you?"  Cheesy, yes, but true, and guess what?  I got a hug from Anne Lamott!  She is a great hugger, I might add.  Not some impersonal, one arm hug; she gave me a full-body embrace.  Woohoo!  It was awesome and after the event, at least 10 strangers told me they were jealous of me.

I got to give Anne a hug during the book signing.  When you know so much about a person through books or talking or whatever, it means a lot to be able to touch them in the flesh.  "I love you and you are real."