Good morning. How are you? What's up? Beautiful day, isn't it? I'm so sorry for your loss.
As unscripted as I'd like to think my life is, we live by them. I play through the same conversations daily, with Jim, with my co-workers, with friends.
Crazy weather we're having. How about those Huskers?
But for all that, I don't think it makes our interactions any less sincere.
Just as the liturgy breathes comfort into my heart each Sunday, so too scripts help stabilize our lives.
Life is full enough of uncertainty. We don't know what the future holds. Heck, I don't even know what the next hour has in store. And that's exciting, but at the same time, it's unsettling.
So to have some continuity is a relief. I am exhausted by the end of each day, after completing all the tasks associated with work and keeping my home, after tending to the needs of my husbands and pets, after carefully monitoring the moods of everyone around me and biting my tongue so often it's bruised.
To know I can greet an acquaintance or friend and start the conversation with, "Hi, how are you?" is a balm to my often-anxious mind.
It's just one less thing to think about.
•••
"If there's an empty space, just fill it in with another line, even if it's from another show. That's what I do."
-Waiting for Guffman
