Bill Cosby and Me

How old is Bill Cosby?  Anybody care to wager a guess? No?  Why not?  Could it be because you've simply lost track of good ol' BC? Yes, I'm thinking that's it.  Yet he filled an entire basketball arena for the Miami University Parent's Weekend -- pretty much filled it. 

Saturday was a wonderful day with Jake on the beautiful campus of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.  All five of us were together again.  We walked and toured and talked and ate, and after a long day, we were ready to sit and enjoy an evening of laughs. We snuggled into our seats in Millet Stadium (stadium seating does tend to challege the Strauss girth and long legs), and we waited for Bill.

Alan asked, How is old IS Bill, do you think?
Maybe 80, Jake replied.
I think you might be right, Alan responded, he's a great storyteller.

I really, really just froze.

80?  I don't think he's that old, I said.  But I feared it was true because Jake and Alan are usually right about this kind of thing.  I  booked tickets to listen to an 80 year old man tell stories, for an entire evening?  What was I thinking?  I have a hard time listening to engaging, young, interesting people. I have a hard time sitting through a good movie. As we continued to sit and wait for Bill (the stage was set in the middle of the arena with a folding chair and a small table on which were a box of tissues and a bottle of water), I began to panic.

I'm too hot, I complained.  I'm thirsty, I need to get out......
Relax, Mom, I was told.  Take off your jacket, your down vest and your sweater and relax.

But really, I thought, how long can an 80 year old talk?  An hour?  An hour and a half?  Possibly there would be an intermission so he could collect himself and I could get a glass of wine.... Alan was already snoring next to me.  The boys were elbowing each other and smacking their gum.  I can do this, I thought.  This is lovely family time.  Bill must still be very good or they  wouldn't have booked him for such a large event.  He must do this all the time.  He must have new material.  He was really funny on the Cosby Show back in the day, sort of cute, I guess....or maybe that was his little girl, his daughter or granddaughter....

The curtain to the stage finally separated....and there was Bill in his Miami University sweatshirt and Crocs; the crowd whispered, then stood and applauded with so much love that I retreated - this was just going to be something else.  But I did feel a teensy bit discourgaged when Bill walked through the audience holding on to someone's arm, then tripped up the steps to the stage.

He did look pretty much like 80.  He could blame the tripping and the arm-holding on cataract surgery that he'd had a week ago....somehow someone forgot to tell him how long it takes to recover from cataract surgery.....Bill, you need new people, is all I could muster.

So, FYI, Bill is 72.  He can tell a story, he really can.  And while I didn't laugh as much as the rest of the audience and certainly not as much or as loud as Al, there were some cute lines that made me smile. 

Two hours and 10 minutes.....that's how long an 72 year old story teller can talk....who would have ever thought?