John Lithgow

[Note] This is only a very slightly fictionalized account of our train ride to Blackheath.

* * *

Shortly after boarding the train from Sydney to Blackheath, John Lithgow popped into my head for some reason.

“Hey Jen.” I said. “You know who I think about sometimes? John Lithgow.”

Jen gave me a quizical look. “Yea...” she trailed off, sounding curious.

“Do you ever think about John Lithgow?”

“Yea,” she replied. “Sometimes.”

We smiled at each other. “He's just so easy to think about.” she mused.

“Yea, exactly. That's so strange....how appropriate he seems. He just fits. It's so comfortable...just riding the train and thinking of John Lithgow”

“Yea...” she agreed. “It really is.”
“That really is strange, though. I wonder why he comes to mind so naturally?”

“Well, he's a very prominent actor.” I replied. “I mean, he was in 3rd Rock forever, and did a whole bunch of other stuff.”

“Like what?”

“Er, well I don't really remember right now. Plays, I think. He did, like, all kinds of plays.”

“Plays like what?”

“I don't know...I saw part of a tv documentary about him once. He just did all these plays, and other things. He's been on all these different shows. He's like John Malcovich....he's just kind of everywhere, you know?”

“Yea, I mean, clearly he's a very accessible concept.” she said.

“Yea. I think this is just, like, his time, you know? He's just....present in our culture.”

“Yea.” she agreed, thoughtfully.

We lapsed into our own private thoughts about John Lithgow for several minutes. Jen, who had been staring vacantly at the rail map across the aisle, suddenly exclaimed “Oh my god, Dave! We're on the Lithgow line.”

“Hmm?” I said.

“The end of the line. It's Lithgow.”

“Oh.”

“Yea.” She said.

“Er, Yea...” I said. “But....you know....all that stuff about John Lithgow is still totally true.”

“Oh yea, definitely.” She said.

Epilogue

This happened two weeks ago, and we have thought of John Lithgow several times since. Sometimes many kilometers from the Lithgow line.

According to the IMDB and wikipedia, John Lithgow has acted in more than 17 plays and numerous films, including the 1984 smash hit The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension.

Also: We're back from another 4-day camping trip! Posts to follow updating you about our work with the Norman's, our bushwalking, and our new year's!