scriptless

a while back, my friend leslie blogged about what you can learn about a person from looking into their ice box (and some other exciting news). i was intrigued. so much so, that i took my own photo of my ice box and shared it with you. i was looking at my nightstand this week, and had similar thoughts. what does this little space, the last space i am in each day before retiring to sleep, say about me?

i'll let you come to that conclusion on your own. i'm curious if it is accurate or if it is more of a little snapshot of the "me" that i think i am.

but thinking about all of this made me want to see a whole lot of people's bed side tables. i think it would be interesting. i can just imagine that my friend jen would have a burp cloth laying next to hers and that my friend amy might have some cool graphic designs she's working on. i'm thinking that jodi's would contain some detailed documents about the layout she's working on for her new business and that Camia might have a stack of poetry journals. i'm pretty sure holly has kid's books on hers (she's a family bed sort of momma) and that a few of my friends might have some saltines by their bedside (not naming names here as they might not want their big reveal to be via t's blog post). anyway, as i said, i think it would be interesting.

if you care to share, i'd love to see.

the thing that is fresh on my mind from my own bedside table is the book that i just finished. it's titled scriptless. it takes me back to the summer before i made the big switch from Southerner to midwesterner. scott was doing a summer internship in chicago and every couple of weeks i would make a visit.

during the days he would work and i would wander around this amazing city (it was summer, so that word fits... not sure i would use the same adjective if i had been visiting in the winter). i took in the art museum and the lakefront, michigan avenue and the stores on armitage. but in the evenings, scott would always plan these fabulous date nights.

my favorite date was to second city. second city is where improv comedy was born (i don't really know that, but i'm declaring it as fact). it is where many of the saturday night live greats began. chris farley, tim meadows, tina fay, and adam sandler all did time here and that's just a few of many. it was hysterical! seriously, it is fall off your chair, don't take a drink or you might snort, go to the bathroom before the show begins or you might pee a little... funny!

after our first date there, i was hooked. we went back many times over our 8 years in chicago and each time was just as good (if not better) than the last. we also took in lots of other improv offspring from around the city. we went to the improv olympics, comedy sportz, and a show or two at the annoyance theatre. my husband is a good man- he's less of an improv fan than i am but he likes to indulge me. all of that to say- i love improv!

fast forward to this spring. i met a girl named andrea. there were about 8 people sitting around a table and we were giving the super condensed version of our lives. the girl was funny. she was talking really fast (which she doesn't normally do, but on this night, she did). in between two sentences, i thought she said she was a former cast member from second city las vegas. but then she went on to talk about other elements of her life. i wasn't sure i had heard her correctly, but did i mention she was really funny? it could have been true, but i wasn't i sure.

a few months into our friendship, andrea revealed to me that she was working on a book. i thought that was pretty cool. when we began to discuss the topic- she told me that it was about her time with second city and what that time speaks to her about a relationship with God. it was a "you had me at hello" moment. i had no idea how that book would unfold, but i was certain that i wanted to read it.

i finished the book today. i promise you, i'll be thinking about its contents for weeks and weeks. it's funny. it reveals a great deal about the behind the scenes in the life of improv. it challenged me in the way that i approach my relationship inwardly with God and how that relationship is manifested through my life. you should read it. it does not disappoint.