I frugally (and ridiculously) hemmed and hawed over the $6.99 on demand price tag for the documentary “Elaine Stritch:Shoot Me”, but am glad to report the money was well spent.
And since I’m CEO of this blog, I decided that I’ll make my Lessons Learned (from my Nymphomaniac Vol 2 blog) a regular feature.
Lessons Learned from Shoot Me:
1. I may never find love again and that’s ok. Elaine explains that after her husband died of brain cancer, she never found someone again even though she loved being married. Here I had blamed my solid relationship drought on the internet age, and moaned that my best love days were behind me (evidence article A-renting a film solo on a Friday night), but what the hell, I’m healthy, employed with money to burn, so life could be worse. And look at Elaine, she has fun. From appearances, all I have to do is move to the Big Apple for cultural stimulation. In fact, I could start a parallel blog about that, Mensch in the City.
2. Death is scary, but that by 87, Elaine sees some benefits of an exit. While Elaine worries about post death being a blank screen, as long as you’re not aware of the nothingness, there’s no pain. The angst comes with awareness, a la Sartre’s No Exit.
3. Note to self: save some money in a special fund called FUTURE ASSISTANT I CAN DEPEND ON AND PUSH AROUND, that way if I don’t find a partner I’ll have someone to hold my hand during various health scares or in Elaine’s case, low sugar moments, temporary memory losses and impatient cell phone call situations. And I’m not at all mocking, but rather, drop dead serious. In fact, right now I’d definitely get out more if I had a trusty chauffeur.
I’ve struggled with being humorous without coming off as a bitch. I admire Elaine for her talent and charm which override her rough edges.
Last, awe inspiring was Elaine pushing through the fear of forgetting lyrics in her lounge performances, which may be the key to enduring old age; acting and acting out even with imperfection.
Here’s to getting old and speaking our minds! And as Elaine toasted, “Here’s to looking up your old address!”
