Oh, “Hi!” – you’re still here. We are too.
I guess you could say I’ve taken this past summer off from writing. Or perhaps you could call me lazy. Or maybe it’s just been a lazy summer. Either way – here’s an new entry.
A few days ago the kids weren’t home – so after takeout sushi, Anissa and I were flipping through the TV menu to see if there was anything to watch besides another damn HGTV show. I came across the listin in the menu for Tig Nataro’s HBO special. It was about to start in a few minutes so I hit the record button just in case the current HGTV show was so incredibly gripping I’d forget to switch over to HBO.
After another satisfied homeowner went on and on about their new backyard I clicked the DVR over and began Tig’s special. About 15 minutes in, we got a phone call from my brother-in-law and his girlfriend who were about to arrive on our doorstep. I paused the DVR at a moment where Tig’s face was held nice and tight in the frame of the TV. Once in the house, Rob looked over at the TV and said, “Oh, you’re watching Tig” – then he immediately looked to Cristina and said, “Don’t say anything! – she already ruined it for me!”
Having already listened to Tig’s now famous 2012 Largo set, I knew she had been diagnosed with breast cancer, but didn’t really know much more about her treatmtent. After hearing Rob’s comment about “ruining it” I thought “What surprise could there possibly be in a comic’s HBO special?”
We never finished watching Tig that night since the conversation with Rob and Cristina quickly turned to the health of their dad, John. John was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer back in January of this year. He took a fall tonight while trying to stand. My mother-in-law, unable to get him back up, called the paramedics to assist. They ended up bringing him to the ER to make sure he didn’t hurt himself.
The next day Anissa went to see John in the hospital and spend the night at her parents. I went off to shoot a wedding that day. I didn’t get home until almost midnight and while exhausted from the wedding I still had the question about what happens in Tig’s show. So, I turned it on and began where I left off.
Now, I won’t ruin it for you. Wait, yes I will. I have to for the purpose of this story. In that case – I’ll give you an opportunity to go see it for yourself, then head back here to continue reading…
(…SPOILER BELOW…)
Ok – so you’re back. You’ve either watched it or you haven’t.
If you did, as you were watching you probably had a reaction like this: Wait?…What?…She’s not really?…What just happened?…Did she just take her top off? Really? She’s doing a stand up routine topless after a double-mastectomy and no reconstructive surgery? Did this just happen?
Those questions spin in your head for all of about 40 seconds and then she does something amazing…she continues with her routine. Within moments you are pulled back into her stories – her next bit was about being on an airplane. You forget that she’s standing there topless. You’re thinking that at some point she’s going to address that fact that she’s standing in a Boston theatre, doing standup, without a shirt. But she doesn’t – ever. And she doesn’t have to.
Regardless of what she’s wearing or how she looks, she’s still the same person that was standing there before you just minutes ago wearing a shirt, doing what she loves, and getting laughs. Sure, she looks different from what she once did, but she took a chance, did something daring, persevered and did what she went there to do. This is because she’s still the same person.
Only stronger.
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