WWW.WEDNESDAY

WWW. WEDNESDAY asks three questions to prompt you to speak bookishly. To participate, and to see how other book lovers responded, click here. 

PS I no longer participate in WWW.WEDNESDAY via that link because her blog won't accept Blogger comments. I mention this only to save you the frustration I experienced trying to link up

1. What are you currently reading? Deck the Hounds by David Rosenfelt. Bruce Springsteen's memoir (below) was so intense, brimming with passion and dysfunction and ambition and rock and roll, that I wanted something simpler and more straightforward. And Christmas-y. Christmas-y would be nice. So I picked up this Andy Carpenter mystery.

 

I love Andy. An independently wealthy, super-talented defense attorney who is constitutionally unable to shut up, he's one of my favorite "cozy mystery" protagonists. This time around, Andy finds himself going into the Christmas season by walking it like he talks it and helping a homeless man. A homeless man who, of course, has a dog. Every Andy Carpenter mystery begins with a dog. 

  

2. What did you recently finish reading? Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen. When it comes to music, my personal airwaves are ruled by THE THREE B's: The Beatles, Babs and Bruce. I could probably go the rest of my life without listening to anyone else and still be pretty happy. 

 

Last year I read Barbra Streisand's memoir and was fascinated. Often annoyed, never bored. Which is something when you're talking about a memoir of 900+ pages. So when I picked up Bruce's 500-page autobiography, I expected to zip through it with a similar reaction.

 

I didn't. I am shocked to report that, at times, I was bored by Bruce. The man who has held me entranced onstage for up to four hours, the Boss who led the soul-shaking, earth-quaking, heart-stopping, pants-dropping E Street Band bored me at times! His book is, objectively speaking, better written than Streisand's. But he just didn't have her audacity and indefatigable need to be understood. Really, at times in her book, I felt like Streisand was gripping me by the collar and yelling, "HEAR ME!" With Born to Run, I felt like the very literate Professor Springsteen was trying to impart his hard-earned wisdom. And I got bored! (Not often, mind you. But the fact that it happened at all surprised me.)

 

But I'm glad I stuck with it. Bruce is surprisingly candid about his own shortcomings as he takes us from boy to man, from musician to celebrity, from loner to family man. It's a journey that includes many bouts of depression and hour upon hour of therapy. I admire his courage and his honesty about needing and getting help. It's hard to imagine a more male American specimen than the Boss. I think he may be able to destigmatize mental health issues for men with his memoir and the bio-pic Deliver Me from Nowhere.

 

I also loved hearing how some of my all-time favorite songs came to be. I can't thank Bruce enough for the music that moves my soul. I now know "Bobby Jean" is not about a lover but a friend, Steve Van Zandt. As one whose most solid relationships have been with my friends, it adds a new and poignant dimension to a song I always loved.

Now let's see if Sir Paul writes his life story. Somehow I'm not holding my breath. The Cute Beatle has always been more opaque, played it closer to the vest, than either Babs or Bruce. 

3. What will you read next?  I don't know.

 

  

 

Use it. That's what it's there for.

I keep my money in different "funds," all within my savings account. Every month I earmark money for the dentist, for insurance, for vet bills, etc. Then I don't touch it until it's needed for that purpose. Since I am the keeper of both the funds and the calculator, I can move the money back and forth if I need to. (That's how my kitchen remodeling fund became my Paul McCartney concert ticket.)

When my friend Henry had his accident back in 2018, I began a "fund" for him. $15/week went into it. I knew how he and his husband Reg struggled financially in the best of times, and Henry's medical bills were an additional, almost unbearable burden. I used the money from this fund to help Henry with "extras," especially at Christmastime. I sent postage stamps, so Henry could afford to send the holiday cards he lovingly created. When I visited them for the holidays, I took Henry shopping so he could have something for Reg under the tree. Their dogs received a Chewy delivery or two. Lots of little things, paid for out of this "fund" so my own budget felt no strain.  

Henry's been gone a year, but I've kept the fund up, just changing the heading in my spiral notebook from "Henry" to "Friends." It's up to $880. 

No, make that $780.

I just sent Joanna a Target gift card with $100 on it. 

When she paid for my birthday lunch on 11/22, she jokingly expressed relief that there was still credit available on her Visa card. I was surprised – she chose the restaurant (the iconic Walnut Room) and as soon as we sat down she asked what alcoholic beverages we were going to toast with. She told the waiter that "of course" we were having Frango Mint cheesecake for dessert. We could have done the Walnut Room for less, or we could have dined at a more affordable restaurant. But this is what Joanna chose ... for me. Because she knows how hard my birthday is without my friends Henry and John. She wanted to make my birthday perfect and it was.

Joanna is 70. Her business is struggling and she has no retirement savings. She is very matter-of-fact about her "life on the edge." Of course, Joanna is matter-of-fact about big things. The woman is conversational about losing everything in Katrina! Two divorces. The slow, painful cancer death of her older brother. Her lover's dementia. Things that would have knocked other women on their asses, Joanna absorbs and then gets on with life. As was said of that other formidable daughter of the South, Scarlett O'Hara, Joanna "takes her fences cleanly, like a good hunter." She doesn't falter or show fear, she just goes ahead with no fanfare.

I admire her. I appreciate her.

So I sent her $100. It will be enough to give her a little wiggle room, but not enough to cause her embarrassment. After all, we don't exchange Christmas gifts and she hasn't asked for my help, making her dignity is a consideration.  

Perhaps she will use it as Henry would – to buy a gift she couldn't otherwise afford. Or maybe she'll spend it as I would – to pick up stuff for my pantry. 

It won't have any long-term impact on Joanna's finances, but it will make next week easier.

I happen to be reading Bruce Springsteen's memoir as I post this and think of him exhorting "Rosalita" – Use it, Rosie! That's what it's there for! 

I heard you, Boss. I used the "Friends" money. That's what it's there for.

 

PS Henry would approve. He was the most loving person I ever met. I like that I was able to spend what was originally "his" money this way.