It happened, y'all. Anne Lamott showed up, fully and present, unashamed to be scattered and spaced out.
One of her many mantras to herself is, "Even though you are scattered and spaced out, I fully love and accept you."
What would happen to us as people if we said, "I fully love and accept you" to ourselves everyday? Some people don't need that, clearly...but those who do...what a gift those words are.
She began speaking as if she wondered why we had all asked her here, bought all the tickets within 24 hours and then created the need for an overflow room. Her only answer was that maybe it's something about the way she talks that gives us a sense of relief...YOU THINK? YES, INDEED, ANNIE, YOU DO.
I was writing as fast as I could to record her every vowel, and these gems gave me and those around me a sense of relief tonight.
Anne said:
This is the one precious life, and it doesn't matter what your butt looks like.
Look up! You don't have to look at your feet. You don't have to look at your stomach. Yes, it sticks out. We got older. Sue us.
"Me too!" is the greatest theological line.
Do you want to be RIGHT, or KIND?
I make up almost all of my own problems, then I punish people around me and extract vengeance...but I make most of it up.
Where do we start? We start by stopping.
When we are in the abyss, Jesus doesn't say, "For Pete's sake, snap out of it."
He says, "Well why don't I come down there with you? I have a little bit of water to drink. It's not much..."
I insist on doing the grief, doing the angry.
You get to start over - it's the Christian tradition! You get to start over, just as soon as you remember that you do.
I have this family that lives with me...oh wait. MY family - my family lives with me...
Every single person's heart gets shattered in this life.
And I just said to God, "...WHATEVER." (It's the fourth grader's prayer.)
God has to love you; that's God's JOB...no matter how secretly awful you are.
For those of you beautiful people who are ready for more words and truth from Anne Lamott, she has written 15 books. Google her. Then pick a book. Then go to your library or an INDEPENDENT BOOK STORE owned by a local yokal who loves trees and fair wages, and pick out one of her books.
She is also fabulous to follow on Facebook and Twitter. Real stuff, y'all.
And it still doesn't matter what your butt looks like.
5 comments:
Good job, Mollie. This is a great summary. She had me with her opening line of 'I'm all chaos and confusion.' I knew I had a soul sister up on that stage.
I love your honesty. Thanks for sharing!
Summed it up perfectly. What a night!
V
Mollie, even though Anne must have her reasons for disrespecting national chain booksellers, please don't perpetuate her bias. I attended last night with my friend, the store manager of a local large chain bookstore, who thoroughly enjoyed the experience except for Anne's statement that she believes independent booksellers will go to heaven faster than other booksellers. My friends cares deeply for her employees, works tirelessly to make her store respectable, welcomes writers, and is a warm-hearted Christian woman. I guess you could say our feelings were hurt and I'm writing in defense of all exceptional booksellers everywhere, no matter where they work.
Thanks for this. I was scribbling as fast as I could, too, but you captured some stuff I didn't.
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