Overheard in Austin

We spent a long weekend in Austin with the kids taking in some of the public music events that were part of the SXSW conference. We also paid a lot of money to see Nickel Creek at Gruene Hall! That was a great concert. Gruene Hall is a really unique venue to see a concert. We saw the Old 97s there last summer and I had been wanting to get back for something else when I saw Nickel Creek on the schedule. We have been listening to them for several years and trying to get to a concert, so this was ideal! More on that maybe later. First, I have to share a little story before I forget it.

Heather recently sent me the web address for Overheard in New York, which is a pretty obnoxious, but mostly hilarious blog where people write in with conversations they overhear in, you guessed it, New York. Beware, it is not for the faint of heart...especially today, I noticed.

Anyway, I always intend to write down stuff I hear but usually forget. I've started carrying index cards and a pen with me everywhere, and also have them strategically placed here and there where I might be struck with writer's inspiration at the urging of Anne Lamott, my new best friend (haha), in her book, Bird by Bird. I recommend that book to anyone who has ever considered writing as a career or just as a passion. It's, again, not for the faint of heart, but has literally changed the way I think about writing and, in fact, life recently. The subtitle is even Some Instructions on Writing and Life. I've just read everything by her I can get my hands on lately. Traveling Mercies is another favorite.

So, we were in Austin at a vintage guitar store and I needed to use the restroom, so I asked if they had a public one. The store consisted of two long skinny rooms, one neat and organized and really the "sales floor" and the other side messy and piled up everywhere. The restroom was at the back of this other room and you had to go through the one small door in the middle to get there. I had noticed a cute little girl, maybe four years old, wandering around. She was obviously very familiar with the place, maybe the owner's daughter. She wasn't obnoxious or getting into anything, just wandering around quietly. She was behind me as I went through the door in the middle. There was a guy up on a tall ladder just on the other side of the doorway working on something up high on the ceiling or wall. As I got a few steps further into the messy room, I heard him say to the little girl, "Hey, big girl." She just kept wandering and didn't pause as she responded, "Hey, stupid."

I was cracking up. If she had been one of those other kinds of kids, you know the ones you want to volunteer to spank for the parents who never corrected them, I might have been shocked and appalled, but honestly, it was just funny and the kind of laugh I was in need of.