You know the question. You win a million, a squillion, whatever. What would you do with it?
Can there be a better suggestion than this true story from George Clooney featured in Esquire Magazine?
"There's ten of us, we've been best friends for thirty years. Ten guys. And their wives, and their kids, are all family now. I'm not big on keeping up on the phone, none of us are. Some guys I won't talk to for two months and then you pick up the phone and hear, "So, anyway." There's no guilt or where have you been? or what's been going on? or why haven't we talked? There's an ease to it.
I remember when Richard Kind's dad suddenly died. This was about seven or eight years ago — maybe more. Richard's a really wonderful character actor. He loved his dad, and he was very grown-up about passing on the news. He called and left a message: My dad died, I'm in Chicago, the funeral's going to be in New Jersey tomorrow morning. I'll talk to you when I get back.
This was five o'clock at night. I was in L. A. Rick is a Jew. They bury the next day. They don't screw around. They get you right in the ground. So I called up Michael, Grant's brother, and told him Richard's dad died. He said, "We should be there." The guys were all around the country. One was in Denver. One was in San Diego.
So I got a jet and we spent the whole night flying around the country. San Diego, Denver. We landed in Trenton, New Jersey. Richard didn't know anything about it.
We got to the synagogue, this giant synagogue, with the people up front. And Richard didn't know we were going to be there. We're sitting there, the nine of us in the back row. And Richard gets up to speak about his dad and he sees his nine best friends there. And what I loved about it was that all of us understood that there are moments in your life that are real passages. Your father dying is a very big one. Because you are now the man of the family. We understood how important that was at that time."
Read more: http://www.esquire.com/features/what-ive-learned/meaning-of-life-2012/george-clooney-quotes-0112-2#ixzz1iWyF8tGH
5 comments:
George Clooney is a mensch -- and rich enough to rent a jet -- and one of the greatest looking actors alive -- and I hope he wins an Oscar for Descendants.
All I want for my next birthday is a dinner date with George Clooney.
George Clooney is a mensch -- and rich enough to rent a private jet -- and the best looking guy on screen these days -- and I hope he wins an Oscar for Descendants.
All I want for my next birthday is a dinner date with George Clooney.
Somehow you don't think of "famous" people having friends like normal people do and so this was very touching. I still have school friends like this and was fortunate enough to meet up with some of them at Christmas. Even though we hadn't met for ages, it was as if no time had passed at all. Worth driving to the other end of the country!
Cool post! Thanks.
What a moving story. Thanks for sharing it, Helen.
By the way, those annoying essay comments have completely disappeared from my blog and I have not had any spam lately. Amazing!
Post a Comment