I hadn’t written a blog since shortly after the New Year,
while I was still on the return to Idaho leg of long road trip…
Finished one last week and the voices in my head have been
telling me they had more to say…
In last week’s blog I spoke of an older woman who approached
me after a show… I won’t re-hash the story again here… If you missed it you can
read it here…
But the voices are telling me there are other recent
acquaintances who asked some interesting and thought provoking questions…
While discussing my life as a comic… And describing life on
the road… I was met with this comment… “It sounds like a lonely life.” Yes, yes
it can be… I will refer you an earlier post made by my friend and fellow comic Stu
McCallister …
Yes, it can be lonely… But to me… There is no better feeling
in the world than coming on stage…
Hey… Don’t judge me!!! It’s exciting on stage!!!
But then just last week… Someone I had met just days earlier
looked me in the eye and asked… “Do you ever cry???”
Huh??? Another thought provoking question…
“Do you ever cry??? Do comedians ever cry??? Comedians tell
jokes… Are you ever sad???”
I would hope that most of you who know me already also know
the answer to that question… But I find the posing of the question in the first
place very interesting… Many of you may have already read this
– But I offer it here again in response to that question…
While also adding this story with an addendum from this past
weekend…
Though it’s a story I thought I had written about before… I
can find it nowhere… I know I have told it to at least a few of you… Including
the person who asked me if comics cry…
Easter week 2013 I returned to NY for the first time in
three years…
Unfortunately, it was to attend the funeral of a beloved
uncle… It was good to see family and friends despite the circumstances…
Fortunately, I was also able to visit with the parents of my
best friend of 40 something years… A friendship that has survived my years in
the Navy… Distance… And time… Paul’s dad had suffered a stroke shortly before
my visit… But he was up, alert and very much able to visit… Blessed by the
visit… I knew in my heart when I shook his hand and said goodbye that it truly
was…
Returning to Idaho… I was visited a few months later…
Towards the end of May… By that little voice… Telling me to call Paul… I
repeatedly used the 2hr time zone difference as an excuse not to call… Deep
inside, I knew… But I didn’t want to hear it…
Last Memorial Day, having spent the day grilling and listening
to baseball… I settled in front of my computer about 11pm… Again using the 2hr
time zone difference as an excuse not to call… A phone call 30minutes later
bringing me to my feet… It was Paul… It was 130am in New York… Exchanging some
hellos and a how are you??? In mid-sentence on another subject, Paul shared the
news… I already knew…
Tears now streaming both our faces… I told him I had known
days earlier… Despite our tears, we marveled again at our connection that
despite the 2000mile separation, after 40 something years was as strong as ever…
Both lifelong Baltimore Orioles fans… Paul’s not a Facebook
guy… So I looked forward to calling him Sunday from Target Field in Minnesota
to say I was at the Orioles/Twins game…
And then it happened again… Checking the box scores a day
earlier… Paul said, he had thought of the many hours we spent through the years…
Playing, watching and talking baseball… A day later I called from the game…
Yeah, comics cry… But sometimes they are happy tears… Grateful
for a friendship that has survived the challenges of distance and time to be as
strong as ever…
