Thursday, November 27, 2008

Thanks for Everything

Since it is Thanksgiving Day, I thought about taking a day off of blogging, but of the five people who read my blog, I figure an average of 1.3 of you read it every day.  If you are reading this, you are undoubtedly one of my friends (since only people who know me read my blog), so I am thankful for YOU!

It is true that I have not been "lucky in love" as far as romance goes, but when it comes to friends, I have so much to be thankful for.  Like my best friend:  I don't think you ever read this, but I am so thankful that you are such a good sport.  When everyone else was complaining on the cruise ship about the tropical rainstorm, we enjoyed watching it and asking the waiter how to say "rain" in Romanian.  When I spotted absinthe on the menu at the jazz club in New Orleans, you immediately said, "Let's order some!"  When the "continental breakfast" at that hotel in Miami was cereal with no milk, bagels with no cream cheese, and toast with no butter, you thought it was just as funny as I did.  And of course there was the sign at the rest stop on the Ohio Turnpike that said:  "Open 24 hours.  CLOSED," and you said they closed it the moment we showed up.  What would I ever do without a travel companion who laughs at the little absurdities of life instead of getting upset!  Together we have tried to decipher Sheboyganese and Lawn Guilandish, learned to drive stick shift in Seattle traffic (OK, so I did the driving, but you were brave enough to get in the car with me!), drove from New York City to Chicago in one day (let's not repeat that particular adventure, or at least not the part where we're hopped up on caffeine and listening to techno music at 2 am as we pass Gary Works - life may imitate art, but it doesn't need to imitate a Hieronymus Bosch painting!), and found the secret password to French Canada.  (The secret password - and I am totally not making this up - is "d'accord."  They aren't impressed if you know bonjour and merci, since every two-bit tourist knows bonjour and merci, but just reply "d'accord," offhandedly to anything they say, and suddenly you are one of them as they fawn all over you:  "Ah, vous parlez francais!"  And just because you can say the French equivalent of OK!)

Hardingfele, you are like a sister to me... at least according to A-Joz, who has two actual sisters of her own and says you and I act like sisters.  I know you've got my back, even if you did find my Archirritant shockingly palatable.  I guess that would make Rock Star Tailor like a niece to me.  You have certainly been there for me when I needed a bunny-sitter or help with an emergency plant removal, and together we made one of the most vacuous videos ever in the history of YouTube.

EM, I am thankful to have such a great workout partner and fellow shopper!  I know you are so busy with your new project these days, but I can't complain when I'm his honorary aunt, and besides, he's so darn cute!  We'll have to try Twittering again sometime.  Sorry, I am the original Luddite and most of this technology stuff totally eludes me.

Melodee, I am thankful for having just met you.  Although I don't know you well yet, you are very cool and I look forward to getting to know you better.

Angela B, if you are reading this, I am thankful for having met you on the train to New Orleans.  We had such a great time that day in the French Quarter and Point D'Algiers!  I will try to stay in better touch, and I hope you can come visit this crazy town sometime soon.

A-Joz, Kathbert, and Anna Banana II, if any of you are reading this, I am very thankful for your friendship throughout the years.  You have done more than your fair share of listening to me complain, especially about my Archirritant!  

Cat, if you are reading this, thanks for convincing me to start a blog!  It's so much fun!  And thank you for all the rides to choir rehearsal, band practice, and gigs.  I'm always happy to meet a kindred spirit who loves music and animals!

And Rich, what can I say?  I am eternally indebted to you for everything you have done for me over the years.  I have always maintained that you are one in a million, and that time I spotted you in Paris in that crowd of one million just proves my point.  (Does that mean there are a thousand of you in China?)  

And of course I am thankful for all my friends who don't read this blog, like "Ethel" who got stuck with me on that roof in Rouen and paddled across a lake backwards in a canoe with me, but who has 4.5 small children and no time to read blogs anymore, and people who don't read it through no fault of their own, because I haven't told them about it.

Lili, if you happen to be reading this, you are the coolest office mate ever.  If you are reading this tomorrow (which is Friday), could you toss a couple flakes of fish food in Arphaxad and Amminadab's bowl?  Thanks!

And most of all, I am thankful to God for everything He has done for me.

Famous Hat

1 comment:

Olivia said...

Hey thanks, sistah! I am always up for vacuous videos, like filming bunnies doing tricks. If you can find Sylvia, we can perhaps put her on You tube as the Hedgehog Boogie 2.