Thursday, September 18, 2008

A day of unexpected joys

Today was a good day because it contained a few unexpected joys. One was something I've wanted to do for awhile, and the other was something that happens quite frequently, but still makes me happy.

The first unexpected joy was that I got to go to a stamp unveiling ceremony. I know - it's an esoteric dream. But as a stamp collector, I've always wanted to go to one. But the problem always was that I lived on the west coast in a small town where nobody ever famous enough to get on a stamp was born, so they never staged one out there. But now I live on the east coast where they occur like clockwork. And what's more, this one was happening at BU, so Brian found out about it and called me and I ran over on my lunch break to get in on a piece of history. Too bad I couldn't stay for the whole thing - I could have told my grandchildren I saw Lauren Bacall speak. And since I'd never heard of Laren Bacall, I would probably have then had to go on to explain to them who she was. Except that they will have grown up with a movie-buff father. So they'll probably know who Lauren Bacall is (and be able to tell me more than I can tell them).

The second joy was a result of the first. Brian was in a class while I was at the unveiling of the Bette Davis stamp, but he called me after he got out. And there he was - standing on the other side of the street from where I was waiting for the train. He was planning to go home, but given that he had the opportunity to hang out with me for five minutes, he changed his plan and rode downtown with me. Then he studied at the Boston Public Library, one block from where I work, and travelled home with me. It's always nice to have a companion in the mundane.

4 comments:

IndianaJones said...

that line of having a companion in the mundane is so beautifully accurate...what a joy you have found this!
esoteric or not sounds like fun to me. And I love Lauren Bacall.

Sarah said...

Picture of the stamp that was unveiled?

meg said...

i second sarah. and also, this is a beautiful post. i felt like i was right there with you.

yellowinter said...

sounds like a sweet, sweet day~ stamp collector, eh? do you still collect them? i remember bringing over stamps to my neighbor when i used to get mail from korea. long, long ago... :)