Is Bill Bryson Having a Mood?

Last month I got to have margaritas with the World Hum men and their special ladies. It was a fine time where we talked about life and other writers more than the anticipated shop talk. That was so refreshing. Jim and Leslie are amazingly open, and I was inspired to have more conversations about life in the simpler sense. Sometimes we can get too consumed by our work, our niche, our lives. More Hum please. These folks are on my Vegas wish list, my happy hour list, and probably four people I’d most like to take to the Tin Shed in Portland.

I’ve been meaning to blog about that night.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming, they’ve got an interesting post from 6.25.03.

“Have We Read the Last Bill Bryson Book?”

My comments are enclosed in their post. But I say nah, Bill’s not done. Get out there and live your life, Bill. Do what you want. You don’t owe us an apology or an excuse. There is so much beauty in variety, and having the life of an onion. Being in the public allows some people to pigeonhole you into thinking you are what they read. Come on now, surely there’s more to us than just what we print.

I experienced a bit of that the other day when I met someone who only knew me from this blog. They focused in on a few points that to me were so minor. It was interesting to see how I had presented myself. I’m glad they approached me in person so that they could see that the one thing I had written was merely a mood.

I love the different phases in life and look forward to experiencing more of them. I also think it’s pretty cool to know a person long enough to see them evolve. Or on the reverse end, to be in someone’s presence long enough to one day suddenly say, “Wow, I get how you work now.” For some it might take a few weeks or months. For those like me, a few years.

I’m rambling now but I’m excited that Bill Bryson is trying out other aspects of his writing. And with so many years left, I highly doubt he’s written his last travel book. Damn, it feels like coffee house time! Who wants to gab about life
and love and not take anything we say to be written in stone?

A few weekends ago I was talking to Sean Keener about kids. How many did he want? He was nervous to answer or ask me the same. You see, the first time I met him and Chris three years ago I was post break up and steadfast about having three kids. Adamant. Unbending. This time around I told Sean that we could have this conversation with the complete understanding that things change, and what we said that day didn’t mean that it would still be what we wanted five years from now.

For example, when I was in high school I wanted to have enough kids so that our whole family could be it’s own baseball team. In college I wanted 3-4. Post college I wanted four. At 29 I had that whole “Must have THREE” conversation with them. Now, at 32, hello….. Well, now I just pray that I get the opportunity of being a mother at all. I know I will. But today I’m looking at one child, and hoping for the energy, inclination, and ability to have two.

You see what I mean? Life! Damn it’s good. But there’s an awful lot of flexibility required to get through it. Phases. There can be so many. I love exploring them.