Me, Michael, Laurie.
My God, we were babies. And yet, of course, life then was important and difficult and sometimes heart-wrenching. Life usually is. Life was also adventurous, hilarious, spontaneous. We may have more miles on us now but in a lot of ways I knew more then than I do now. I lost what I knew then along the way. The way has been hard. You’re not supposed to say stuff like that. Oh well.
Supporting commentary for this week’s TBT:
The Cup I Stole
From the dusty VHS Vaults: Appearing on a RIDICULOUS cable access talk show with these two
Remembered Kindnesses #4 – I knew this piece existed but I had to dig for it. I am actually horrified that I published this, after a quick once-over. My finger trembles on the Delete button. It’s one of the RELENTLESS June/July 2009 posts that I keep saying I should delete since I was so sick then – out of my mind sick (I should have been in the hospital.). My friends and family must have been freaked when they read this. And poor Michael. He reads my site every day and I gave him no warning about this one. I re-read it wincingly, feeling the anguish in it. It’s filled with words/thought patterns that are now forbidden to me, for good reason, since they are doorways to madness. “Scarcity.” I shiver even thinking about it. But I’m sticking to my guns and letting it stand. I guess writing that piece was my way of creating a life-line. I remembered Michael’s kindness and I wanted to write about it because it made me remember kindness existed. I post this here because this happy-go-lucky photo booth TBT picture – taken in the middle of that tempestuous beautiful time – made me remember what was at stake for me. And what Michael, ultimately, has meant to me. We are still friends. Like, true friends. We don’t SEE each other but we are true friends. (I think when he came and stayed with me over 10 years ago is the last time I saw him in person.) But, you know, when Jerry Lewis died, I texted Michael instantly. Because I know Michael’s love for Jerry. And the day my film “premiered” at Albuquerque, he texted me to tell me he was proud of me. So, you know. It’s that kind of friendship. I said to him once recently, “You know, we were CHILDREN when we were together. But we clearly were smart enough to know what we were doing, we recognized each other immediately and TRUSTED our gut instinct. Like ‘Oh. You. Hi there. You’re obviously my kind of person and we are obviously meant to be together. Let’s go.'” And that’s what I can no longer do. But I could then. We were very very lucky.
And, finally, just to plug my friend: You should seek out Michael’s movie Kwik Stop, if you haven’t already. I believe it’s on iTunes. (I wrote about it for Rogerebert.com. Ebert had championed the film, which was a big BIG deal.) Michael was working on what would be the first draft of Kwik Stop during our flannel-clad autumn together.
