TV and a newspaper article yesterday,
an award and a speech today. Tomorrow, sadly, might just be a boring
old day.
Not that there's anything wrong with
that.
As I've written in here a few times the
past few weeks, my life has taken a surreal turn recently. Weird
things keep happening, things that might be the highlight for someone
for their entire year yet are things that I seem to be dealing with
on a daily or weekly basis. After all, when I go to bed tonight I'll
be thinking that “all” I have to do on Friday is host a TV show
and do five hours of radio.
I live a weird life.
As I've written in here a few times the
past few weeks, I really shouldn't be complaining about this. If
you're gonna have a problem, it's not a bad problem to have—people
using you as a resource, or giving you an award, are things that
don't rank very high on a list of world problems these days. And I
feel fortunate that I live the life I do. It just seems...weird that
it's happening all at once. Someone who's opinion I respect just
called it a payoff for a decade or more of hard work, and that may be
the case.
But I didn't do it for the payoff. I
just do what I do because I like it.
Anyway, the latest things that have
blown my mind? How about a Mining Journal article dealing with street names in Marquette, and from where they came.
Since I did a program about that very subject for the Marquette
Regional History Center six or seven (or however long ago it was)
years ago, I was the first person Trinity called when she wanted to
write it. I just gave her a few pithy quotes; how they filled up all
those newspaper column inches is beyond me.
Apparently I babble about history a
lot.
Speaking about babbling about history,
that also led to that little award I'm being given today.
Thankfully, it's not just me; the Marquette Beautification and
Restoration Committee is giving nine or ten people &
organizations their annual awards (and a free lunch). As I mentioned
after I found out I was being honored by them, I have no idea how my
name came up, other than the fact that I babble about old buildings,
parking lots, and the old buildings that used to sit on them.
I'm thinking that's why I'm being given
the honor. Either that, or the stories I tell about hookers &
drunkards made a much bigger impact upon people than I thought.
Like I said, I know I shouldn't
complain about all this, and I really AM grateful for the
recognition. It just doesn't seem...right. It seems otherworldly,
like I'm watching the story of someone who vaguely resembles me and
vaguely does the same stuff I do. But as Loraine keeps reminding me,
it really is happening, no matter how surreal it seems.
So I'm off to get an award in a couple
of hours. I don't know that I deserve it, but I'll accept it and take
it as the honor it's meant. Even if it does mean my life's been
getting quite surreal recently.
No comments:
Post a Comment