I‘m taking part in a 30-day writing experiment. The theme for me is “personal, not pretty.” See Kale & Cigarettes for details and the Facebook Group to read stories by other 500-words-ers.
My friend Nira is visiting from the Bay Area, and yesterday we decided to go on a celebrity-sighting reconnaissance mission to Park City, where the Sundance Film Festival is currently happening. I’ve never been to Sundance, or any decent film festival, and, although there were times in my life where it was conceivable my circles might have taken me there, the only thing Sundance and I have in common at this point is that we both live in Utah.
Nira and I each strapped on a baby ergo-style, suited up in our puffiest puffies and biggest sunglasses, and hit Main Street. Naturally, most people assumed we were a middle-aged lesbian couple with identical twin girls, because these people are almost entirely from LA and think very differently than the usual Utah crowd. And that was fine with me, because people who think differently are definitely my people.
Spoiler alert: We did not end up seeing any A or even B-list celebrities. The closest we came was a rumor that Johns both Krasinski and Legend were inside a tent we walked by. I like John Krasinski, but not enough to wait for him to maybe walk out of a tent and wave to the people. I saw one actress I recognized from TV, but no idea what her name is.
But we did have a pretty great lady day.
We brought the girls to lunch at 501 Main, where we had lobster bisque and beet salad, plus we split a cheeseburger that we asked the waiter to cut in half so that she could have hers medium rare and I could have mine well done. Yup, we’re dicks. It was delicious. Don’t worry; we’re good tippers.
We went jewelry shopping, and Nira bought herself a beautiful smoky quartz ring that fits her ring finger perfectly, thank you very much.
As for me, I found a novelty sock store that sells the exact same brand of scrunchie socks I used to get in Provincetown in the 80s, and bought a pair for old time’s sake.
And for a while, we sat on a bench and made chit chat with randoms. Including this really outlandishly dressed woman with magenta lipstick and fantastic hair who was at Sundance promoting a movie she cast about the Obamas’ first date. She also cast Fruitvale Station, a movie I’ve been meaning to see forever.
Mostly, I enjoyed the day because everyone in Park City was from a coast, and those are my people. Even if they probably look at me, with my babies and my baby weight, and think, “Utah.”
The best thing about being in your 40s is that you genuinely, truly don’t care about being cool anymore.
