Friday, April 26, 2013

Pittsburgh, PA

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     My first two days in Pittsburgh, the ones when I wasn't vomiting violently, were actually pretty. Well, and the third morning. That fateful morning I took a walk alone, through the University area. Okay, I walked a few blocks of Forbes Avenue. Anyway, it was gorgeous.

     The buildings in Pittsburgh were impressive. I would love to go take a ton of pictures with something other than an iPhone one day. There was a lot to see. I stayed mostly in the hotel. When I left it was in the shuttle or on foot. Shuttle drivers scare me. At one point ours yelled out "RUN THEM OVER!" while honking his horn. Apparently he does not care if the Penguins fans are walking to the game from their scattered parking areas, he wants them out of the way, period. My feet took me as far as they would take me, which wasn't far. 

Pittsburgh, University Circle - Lots of Tulips 

Pittsburgh, University Circle

Pittsburgh Athletic Building, or so it said.

Walking in a campus building area, looking towards the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall.

Walking along Forbes Ave., there are so many interesting buildings. Pittsburgh is beautiful! 





Friday, April 19, 2013

Take Comfort

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     I went to the doctor today for my yearly physical. A little late, but she didn't seem concerned. I start by telling her she might not be happy to hear what I was about to tell her and it may well get me put in the 'bad patient' column. I told her in Sept/Oct I stopped taking my medications. I had one for thyroid, one for migraines, and one for anxiety.  She told me, of course, I need to take my thyroid medication. And I do not disagree. As a matter of fact I would not have disagreed had she written prescriptions for everything again. She made sure I had migraine medication. Then she started asking the questions I did not know how to answer. 

     How am I doing with my anxiety? I answered honestly, by telling her I don't know. I don't feel any better than before, but I don't feel any worse, either. She asked a few more questions. Then she asked me something I never thought anyone would ever ask me. "Are you an introvert?"  I think I laughed as I said "No, I don't think so. I enjoy public speaking, I enjoy people, crowds, etc. Just not all the time. I also require a lot of peaceful time. And yes, alone time."  We talked some more and I told her by the definition of introvert she had just provided, I was an introvert. 

     My doctor is such a great fit for me. I think I admit things to her I feel like I can't go around just saying to people. Like how I feel irritated a lot. And how I know it's not really the issue of the people around me who do things which irritate me. I realize the issue is firmly, solely mine. I own  it. And although I mostly do not fill anyone in on the irritations I feel because they are being normal humans, I feel guilty about them anyway.  And then there is the guilt I feel because I don't do enough. Because I have this beautiful new home which is never clean enough.  She asked if it bothered everyone else in the house. No. Not really. Just me. And the thing is she gets it. She shares some of the feelings. The feelings of overstimulated and overwhelmed. We talked about coping with it in small ways to help ourselves feel better and feel happy, and also sort of escape it. It can be as simple as drowning out what is going on with our favorite music & our trusty headphones. 

     Then she told me I need to quit apologizing for who I am. I, of course, countered by telling her I don't really go around apologizing to people about this. Because I try to hide my 'issues'. She told me I needed to quit apologizing to myself for who I am. I think I get it. But it's a lot easier to accept other people for who they are than think it's okay to feel this irritated by a dog who wont stop scratching or people having the nerve to chew their food in my presence. At the actual table. Right? 

     I don't have the patience problems normal people have. I can stand in line a long time and be alright with it. Because there are new people to meet and babies to watch and smile at and songs to hear. I do not care if my doctor runs an hour behind because I know she is great and it just means someone really needed her. I respect it because it means she took the time to be there for them. I don't mind listening to my husband tell the story I have heard a hundred times because there is something so intimate about having the privilege of being the one who gets to hear it so much. But please don't make me listen to you  brush your teeth.

    
    The doctor said I should watch this TED video: 


     So I watched it. I enjoyed it. I hope you do too. 

     I'm not sure why I shared this today. There's no real point to telling the whole world about it. Except to say if you feel like some or all of this, you are not alone. And some times that is enough; that comfort of knowing you aren't the only one. 

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Tax Day 2013 - Glad It Is Over!

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Yesterday was one of those crazy-busy days I almost never have. Seriously, I:

  • Paid bills
  • filed federal taxes
  • filed state taxes
  • took my daughter to the doctor 
  • went to my own doctor's office 
  • had lunch with my daughter, which was so nice 
  • stopped in Aldi's for refried beans, which they didn't have. So I bought trees and rosebushes and cheese. (Don't judge.) 
  • stopped for one gallon of gas. (judge, don't judge - who am I to judge?)
  • went to town hall
  • went to the appliance store 
  • sent my daughter next door to Time Warner Cable to inquire about bad remote
  • stopped and looked at some hand painted furniture
  • went to the library
  • went to the hardware store
  • got gas (for the van) with my discount!
  • washed the van
  • did my city taxes
  • ran to the post office
  • Went to my cousin's house for baby snuggles
  • Brought the baby and another cutie home with me
  • Answered emails, responded to facebook items, texted my mom
  • made something to eat
  • Sat and talked with my kids about this and that. 
  • texted something sweet about my cousin's girls to my mom
  • snuggled puppies
  • hummed Leonard Cohen songs throughout everything
If this is what days are like for most people most of the time, you can keep it! I felt like I did a lot in the day, but man... it was a blur. 

Never before have I waited to file taxes like this. And we bought a house this year, so the taxes were not as simple as before. You know how it is... you do things forever and you know what you're doing, but throw in college and home buying and the taxes change. Then add city taxes, which I almost forgot about completely. It got a little nerve-wracking yesterday. 

Today is for resting, maybe baking, painting some furniture. I want one hot dry day so I can rip the registers out on the main floor and give them a good blast of oil rubbed bronze spray paint. Everything else in the house is oil rubbed bronze, but the registers are that odd not-quite-beige color. The registers upstairs and in the basement are in the ceilings and are white, so the main floor is the only place I need to fix.



Monday, April 15, 2013

The Things We Remember

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One hot day in Austin, I was driving around with my four young children. At the time their ages were probably from two to seven. I had recently become an executive manager with Tupperware, which afforded my family the company car: A 1995 Dodge Caravan.  We were all thrilled to have a big brand new van to drive. The kids, who had been in attendance when it was presented to me, were still excited.

From the seat behind me I hear one of the pipsqueaks pipe up "Who loves mommy because she sells Tupperware!?!?!" and all of them answered, in chorus "I do! I do! Meeeee!" while all of their hands shot up into the air. 

It's funny, the things we remember. This is one of my favorites. 

Monday, April 8, 2013

I Really Have No Idea

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There's no good way I can think of to introduce this. It's comments I left on other blogs. Great blogs. You'll see.

Just now: 

"We didn’t so much play tag, but woe be to the one who knocked chocolate after a fart. Please tell me I’m not the only one who understands this."  
http://www.mamakatslosinit.com/2013/04/rules-of-tag

I grew up in an area which was not so much a neighborhood. Lots were big and driveways were long. But the house nearest ours had twin girls my age. The only people in the age group to be found for a long while, except during sometimes when a local celebrity would bring his brood to summer across the street. Lynn and Lori Pipes may be the only two people in the world who 'get' this, wherever they are. 

"Oh my gosh! That is one of the most beautiful children I have ever seen who isn't one of mine. So of course the question begs to be answered: Can I have her?"   @http://tamaralikecamera.blogspot.com/2013/04/make-little-birdhouse-in-your-soul.html

You have to go see her blog. Her wee ones are adorable, she takes amazing photographs, and she writes to your heart.

"If your family doesn't feel finished nothing else much matters. As my husband always likes to say to me "There are ways and ways.
Which simply means your kids will find ways to go to college no matter what. Even if you can't pay for it for them. Lots of kids work their own way through or take out loans for ALL of it, out of necessity. And lots of kids know to work for scholarships. 
I think we all like to think if we don't do anything to upset the delicate balance of life when it is good and easy then it will stay this way forever. But tomorrow something unexpected could happen to change it all forever anyway. Trust God, yourselves, and the universe to know it will all be okay. 
Gosh I miss baby chub."
  
http://allmyhappyendings.blogspot.com/2013/03/just-one-more.html

She's beautiful, sweet, and writes another heartfelt blog. 

"That house was adorable, and I was always jealous of your curved wall. We built a brand new house, and while it's lovely in a million happy ways, there are no curves. 
Your house was so 'you' and that made it a super-cool-party-people house. But the house you find and fall in love with, the one big enough for the whole Luke + Erin clan, will turn into a new, somehow even better version of 'you' and be even more amazing than the cute little house with the curved wall. And in this house your kids will bring all their friends, you will watch crowds grow up, you guys will plant stuff and watch it grow for decades, maybe. The kids will claim their spaces - the ones in which they will go through all the different phases of life. 
It's been almost a year for us and I still mourn my old house a little bit. Not the house itself, which I did not love at all. I mourn the place where the house sat, the view of town hall, the romance of living right at the center of the smallest town in the U.S.A. The one where everyone even knows your dog's name. 
Wow, Erin, I just came here this morning to say I miss your words all over this page. And when I did, to my happy surprise, there were new words from you on this page. And it made my heart so happy to hear from you again."

If you have never read Erin's blog, you should. It's my favorite blog in the world. I have a lot of others which vie for spot #2. Erin seems like a truly kindred spirit and oh so very real. I have this feeling if I went digging through family trees I would find a connection.

"Oh my gosh! You poor thing, you're as crazy as all the rest of us. So you're normal. Embrace the crazy because it's here to stay. (although it seems like you are already embracing it) Not exactly reassuring, but what are you gonna do? Once Gracie is older, and she starts getting her personality in full bloom, well... Let's just say you wont have as much time to be afraid of this stuff because you'll be afraid that if she rolls her eyes at you one more time today you might be tempted to ship her off to boarding school, which God knows none of us can afford. So you'll be busier worrying about how to pay for boarding school and you'll have less time to focus on lint spiders and cabinet people. Trust me, I was a full-on basket case when my first daughter was born. Butas she turned into her own person with her own attitudes,(and don't even get me started about my 2nd daughter and her attitudes) I was faced with new fears like "Gosh, I hope I don't lose my temper with her when she gets back up out of bed one hundred and nineteen times after I put her to bed tonight." 
Okay, okay. I'm Tammi and I leave long comments. So sue me. 
p.s. You are adorable. You'll be 'fine'. Whatever that means."

This is a blog I just found and she's young, has a new baby, and also 'writes real'. 

Would you like me to perform some rites of absolution for you? I mean, we could involve chocolate, ice cream, and possibly a fruity drink.It’s easy to forgive other people. It’s hard to forgive yourself. Do you trust yourself? The person you are now? If so, you have already forgiven yourself but you forgot to send the part of you which holds guilt the memo.
http://www.thekircorner.com/2013/03/pardon-me-mama-kats-writing-workshop
Another newly found blog, but she also writes real. Sometimes in the world of blogs it's hard to find, so I treasure it.

Go on now, go read their blogs.

Saturday, April 6, 2013

It's a Cold and it's a Broken Hallelujah

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     I was just standing there in the lobby of the Palace Theatre with all the other Leonard Cohen concert-goers, minding my own business. Really, I was. At door three there was the start of the merchandise area. There was a table with a black cloth on it. I think the only purpose the table served was to keep people out of the area. There was nothing on it, and you could not even see the stuff from that spot. So I stood there waiting for my husband. And you know how intermissions are, people sort of materialize and then dissolve right in front of you. And that's just what happened on Saturday night.

     I turned my head and I saw her. This young girl, with her date, were standing right in front of me. And she looked so much like Victoria my head started spinning. She was looking at me, too, and I smiled at her. But I felt a little... uncomfortable? nostalgic? sad? thrilled? All of those things? She smiled back, and oh my gosh she tilted her head at me in that way that only Victoria did. I looked away because I needed to find my composure. Thankfully, in just a few short seconds, my husband was back from his trip to the bar. Unlike all the other strangers that night, the girl and her date had not dissolved to be replaced by new strangers. I look from her to Luis and he agreed. You know that language you have with people who get you? How you can say more by looking at things than with words? Then he said "Except her eyes are bluer." Which is true since Victoria's eyes, they were hazel. 

     The girl was so close to us and she was looking at us again. Or still. So I told her "You remind us very much of someone we love." And then I thought I was going to lose it. Because she gave me a sheepish smile and there went the last little bit of my composure. I had to turn around to the miraculously empty wall space behind me. My husband was able to quickly bring the conversation somewhere else.

     I can't even see my screen as I type this right now because there's all this liquid between my eyeballs and the computer screen. I can hardly breathe. People say it gets easier. In some ways it does. In other ways, though, it never changes. And, son-of-a-gun you never know when it's going to happen. Can't plan for it, brace for it, resolve against it, it just happens.  Seeing that girl made me feel so much joy - and so much pain.  In the middle of a perfect night, one of my favorite events in my life, there she was. So I am going to say it was no accident, me seeing her Saturday night. 

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Why I Will Not Buy My Mattress From Macy's - An Epic Novel

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We went and tried a bunch of mattresses at a bunch of different stores. After an hour, I just wanted it to be over. It was just the beginning.

We ended up at Macy's and found the perfect mattress for us. 

It was on a super-duper-never-before-never-again-oh-MY-GOSH sale. 

We were debating Queen vs. King and they place orders on certain days so the sales girl was going to call us on Thursday. 

Friday I realized we had received no call on Thursday, but remembered her saying she would be out Friday and Saturday. I assured myself she would call on whichever day she returned to work. 

Then, I did the unthinkable: I forgot about it. I convinced myself the sale was important enough to them that we would be called. Sure, I called the number printed on the card for the furniture department, but no matter how I called I got a computer system asking me to input my receipt number or rate delivery.  I tried the cell phone number which had been handwritten on the card by the sales associate. Never did get a person either way.

Eventually, a couple of weeks after our initial contact, I called the store, was routed through the computer, and just kept trying different things to get a human. (I've since learned of 'new, improved' ways to reach a human in these situations, but they involve dropping rather loud F-bombs. Erica at No Sleep 'Til College figured it out, somehow.) When I finally got a human at a call center nowhere near the store they asked if they could put me on hold for a 'few minutes' and that is precisely what they did - 5 minutes on the phone later an employee at my local store was on the line. His name might have been Mr.DoNotCare, because he did not. I asked about the mattress, he said they didn't sell that model any more and he didn't have any mattresses to sell me for a week. In a week they would have mattresses in again. He told me I would need to come back in to the store and try out the news ones to see which one I liked. Deflated might be the perfect word to describe how I felt. 

I sat for a few minutes, and gathered up my thoughts. I called back and asked for a store manager. When Molly answered the phone my full intention was to inform management of the lack of  follow up. I also thought they should know that phone skills would be helpful for the guy who didn't care at all about my great deal being gone. At least he could have offered an "I'm so sorry that happened." Seriously, what would that have cost him? It could have done wonders for good will. I wanted to make sure Macy's knew why they failed to make that sale. Molly was kind and caring, and listened to me. She was sorry this had happened. Frankly, nobody was as sorry as me. She offered to see if the mattress could still be obtained somehow. Then she did the truly unexpected and said she would sell it to me for the price I had been given before! Then she said if she couldn't get that mattress she would sell me the comparable new mattress at that price!  It was totally unexpected and I was elated. I thanked her, she told me she would hand this matter off to the appropriate person and I should be expecting a call. Way to go above and beyond. Way to go, Macy's!

Oh, if only I could say that I got the call in a day or two, and it all ended well. Alas, I can not. 

In a day or two I got a voice mail. I promptly returned the call. I spoke with who turned out to be Mr.ReallyDoNotCare. He informed me they would have new mattresses set up tomorrow morning, that there were at least a couple in the price range I was willing to spend, and I could come in and look at them tomorrow. I questioned him over the "In my price range" and he informed me Molly had no business making the kind of offer she made to me, that she didn't know anything about the furniture part of the store, and that maybe, just maybe, and he wanted to make sure I didn't take this as a promise or anything, if I wasn't happy with something in the price range I had planned to spend he may be able to bump me up to the next mattress. Now,  the mattress we were planning to buy was a Beautyrest Elite Eminence. It usually went on sale for $1999 in Queen, but this super sale we found was for $1297. So a $1300 mattress was no way going to fit the bill. And why would I give Macy's my business on a full price mattress after they just lost me the mattress of my dreams?  Deflated pretty much fits the feeling again. And I'm starting to feel a bit like a ping-pong ball. 

Not satisfied with the answers I got from  Mr.ReallyDoNotCare I decided to call and ask to speak to Molly again. I hate to bother people with my issues, but I wanted her to tell me if her offer did or did not stand. I did not reach Molly, but Manager#2 (they call them 'executives' and if you say manager they are certain to correct you) who assured me Molly would return my call tomorrow. Molly did not call. I am not sure if she got the message or not.  

I finally called Molly myself. I told her about the totally different story I got from MrReallyDoNotCare. After being a bit school-marmish and chastising with me at one point by saying, in a really pissy tone "Well I did not say I would give you any bed in the whole store for that price. That's not what you are expecting, is it?" I assured her it was not. Her tone went back to the way it had been in our previous converstaions. She asssured me the offer was for the bed which replaced the one I wanted. (I am obviously still trying to forgive her for speaking to me like I was her employee, pupil, or child, but she was mostly nice) Then I explain that I don't know how I am going to be able to actually buy the bed I want at the offer she made since they sales guy was refusing to do it. She said "I don't know either, since you refuse to work with any of my sales staff. I don't have anyone else you can work with" Huh? I told her I prefer not to work with the rude dudes, but the original sales girl was very nice. It's just that she had been on vacation while I was trying to get this all worked out, and would not be back until the next week. She was obviously not understanding what I was saying. I told her I never said I did not want to work with the sales girl, just that I was willing to work with someone else if I had to in order to buy the mattress I wanted. By now I was tired of waiting and my loyalty to her had waned since she forgot about me to the extent that I now had to go through all of this. We agreed that when the sales girl was back she would call me and I would seal the deal with her. Molly also let me know that she had brought the store manager into the loop on this because I had been put through so much. Once again, I leave a call with Molly feeling like I have a resolution. Even if she did manage to insult me a couple of times during the call, I'm still optimistic. 

I'm an idiot. A real dolt. A sucker's sucker. 

Because the sales girl called and we set it all up. My husband had been out of town and when he got back we made another trip to Macy's. Where the sales girl showed us the mattress the store manager told her to offer us. Which was not at all as nice as the Elite Eminence we were going to buy originally. It was a definite downgrade. While she was helping some other customers I said to my husband "This is nowhere near the kind of mattress we were going to buy" and he agreed. We went to the mattress which was now residing where the Eminence used to be. Uh-huh, this is the one. When the sales girl came back we simply asked her if  the one she was offering was the one replacing the one we were going to  buy. She told us it wasn't. She told us the one we were now standing by was the one which replaced the Eminence, but that the Eminence had been such a great deal, and it was never that kind of deal, and she didn't know how it had been such a great deal... So the store manager had decided we should have the lower-end. And we're not talking about a difference in ticking, you can feel a huge different between the Hollingsworth and the Sanderling. And the Sanderling sure isn't up to par with the Eminence. No problem, for $600 more we can just buy the Hollingsworth.  

So I stood in Macy's both so frustrated I felt like I might cry and furious. The sales girl promised me Molly would call me tomorrow. Molly never called. (again)

And here's the kick in the pants which adds (even more) insult to injury:

My daughter works at this Macy's. My other daughter worked at this Macy's while she was in college. When we first went to look at mattresses the sales girl asked if we wanted to open a Macy's charge and we told her we would not open one, but if we did it would have to be with our daughter, who worked in the store as well. She asked us if our daughter still lives at home. She does. So she told us we could use her discount, making the bed an even better deal. I relayed this to Molly the first time I spoke with her. Then manager#2 heard it from me as well.

After my second visit to Macy's,when we left very disappointed, the store manager called my daughter into his office. He told her it was against policy to use her discount for us to buy things and she could be fired if we did. There was a reason why we had never used the discounts through the girls before: we didn't know we could. The sales girl was the one who said it was okay. And I questioned her about it that first day. I made sure it didn't go against store policy. An additional $240 is not worth losing your integrity, and especially not worth losing your job! So here was my daughter being called into the office and being given the numbers for the mattresses to bring to us. 

Why did he call her instead of me? I am the customer. I wasn't having my daughter involved throughout the process. I thought it was terribly rude of him to ignore me and put my daughter on the spot. It sure as heck wasn't her idea. Any of it. I get letting her know not to share her discount, if he thought he had to do it I think there were better ways of doing it. But the rest is inexcusable. 


So now I'm pissed. Not ony did Macy's treat me like a ping pong ball for two weeks while I slept on my old lumpy mattress, but now they are not honoring the offer they extended to me,  and they are sending messages through my daughter instead of dealing with me? Rude, unprofessional, and just plain bad business. 

I called the store again. I asked for a manager again. I got the Assistant Store Manager. He told me he was actually aware of the situation and that the store manager had asked the sales staff, who all agreed the mattress he offered was the replacement to my Eminence. I know this wasn't true because the day before the sales girl told me otherwise when we asked her. Now I understand why she hemmed and hawed about it. I went around with this guy on the phone a little to make sure I had a clear understanding of the situation. I did. I also informed him I was not pleased with the fact that Molly never called me like I was told she would, and I was even less pleased with the store manager dealing with my daughter instead of with me, the customer.  In the end he asked if  the information he had given me had been helpful. I told him it wasn't helpful, but at least it was clear. We covered how the discount wasn't applicable, and I told him I understand that, how we had never used it in all these years, and how we were told by the sales girl it was totally on the up-and-up. We certainly had mentioned it to each manager we spoke with and were not trying to hide it. He said we she could use her discount if she was making a gift to us. I told him my young daughter would certainly not be gifting me our mattress set. Later in the call he started to tell me that if my daughter were to buy this as a gift for us... and I interrupted him because dangit I already told him no. So I told him again that my young daughter would not be buying us an expensive mattress set as a gift and we would not be pretending she was. That's not how we operate in our house. Give us a deal or don't. But don't expect us to lie to get one.

Macy's might not honor their offers, but over here at our house we are keeping our integrity, thankyouverymuch.  (What is wrong with this world?)

I never got a call from Molly. I never got a call from the store manager. 


Why would I buy a mattress from Macy's now? To honor them for insulting us? To honor them for not honoring the offer they extended to me? Yeah, I don't think so. 

My family has been following the abbreviated facebook version of this and two of them were buying mattresses. Both had planned to shop Macy's. Both went elsewhere. 

Treat a customer good and they will tell their friends. 

Treat a customer bad and they will tell everyone. 

So here I am, telling everyone. 


Seriously, what would you do? Do you have any good recommendations?  Where did you buy your mattress? How was your experience?


Just a little follow-up for anyone who may read this from this point on:

This was read by someone higher up at Macy's. I spoke with him at length about things. I did not want to give him more details because my daughter does work there  happen. But you also know they do happen. It was not a chance I was willing to take.

I did try to be as helpful as I could to make him understand the dire situation with the phone system and how they were likely losing pretty much any customer who tried to call their furniture department. He said changes were to follow with the phone system.

He offered to send me a gift card. I thought it over and let him know I would accept the gift card and gave him my address. That was many months ago.

This will come as no surprise to anyone but me, right? You already know what I'm going to say, don't you?

I never received a gift card.

However, we did buy a new mattress from GoToMattress online. They were very helpful on all fronts and I got my mattress faster than I would have if I had ordered it at the store. The price? Way better than anywhere else. They even took away the old mattress set at no charge. 

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Old Ideas

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     On Friday we packed our bags and headed south so we could go see Leonard Cohen at the Palace Theatre in Louisville Kentucky. Where do I start? The Palace Theatre is a beauty. Go see it if you ever get the chance. Simply amazing.  Leonard Cohen was fantastic. He arrived on stage at 8 PM and he  put on one heck of a show. We staggered out of the Theater a little past 11:30, after many standing ovations. On the brief walk across 4th Street Live to our hotel I promised my husband I would stop referring to Leonard as my boyfriend sometime in the next month. (29 days and counting!) 

     Leonard jogs out on stage, a young whippersnapper of 78 years old. He sings songs, tells stories, pays reverent homage to his fellow musicians on stage, each one very worthy of our love. He's a gentleman of the best kind. He's respectful of everyone, but doesn't take anything too seriously. There's two kinds of women at a Leonard Cohen concert: The kind who have already lost their mind, and the kind who are about to lose their mind. I'll let you decide in which category I reside, but suffice it to say I have been to a concert of his in Cleveland in 2009. 'Nuff said. 

     But seriously, while I sit mainly still in my seat in awe of it all, some of these women are hypnotized in other ways. There are a lot of reminders of what it's like in some churches. And I have to admit, at many times throughout the night I kept thinking to myself it felt a little like a church. Except a church where nobody was pretending they never said bad words. A church where you could buy a beer or a glass of wine and bring it into the sanctuary with you. And they did. And we all sang. Women raised their hands to the sky all the time, and swayed in their seats.  People danced in the aisles a little bit. There were standing ovations scattered throughout the show, for Leonard Cohen, for Sharon Robinson, Hattie & Charley Webb, and every member of the band. People shouted out "I love you, Leonard" at times throughout the show but I think nobody minded because we all wanted to shout it out. At some point a lady shouted out "Best Easter Ever" and we all silently agreed. I wanted to shout out and if I could I would shout to Leonard "Ole`!"  

And if you want to fully understand why "Ole`!" you can see the very heartfelt and genius video of the Ted Talk here:


It's worth every second of your time. I think it's one of my all-time favorite Ted talks. 

     There's so much more I could say about it. I could tell you how Leonard Cohen will be at Radio City Music Hall the 6th and 7th of this month (in 4 days!) and I want to go so much I was digging through old gold to see if I could see enough to finance another trip. I could tell you how lucky I am to have a husband who understands my soul with his soul and led the chase to Louisville. I'll leave you with this photo I took, which does no justice, but makes me happy all the same. 

Ole`! Ole`! Ole`!



p.s. Oh my gosh I found my people! And they are here: Leonard Cohen Forum! Where have you been all my life?