31 years and still kicking...

And no, I am not talking about me...the above picture is me -- circa 1976 I would guess...and I can't be held responsible for the dress...I am sure it wasn't my choice AND it was the 70's after all...

Anyone who has known me for any signifcant period of time knows about Puppy -- my aunt Susan made Puppy for me for my first Christmas and I have slept with Puppy almost every night of my life since then...and yes, I still do. Puppy has no ears, is missing 1 leg and had very little of the fabric that he came with upon delivery to me BUT I feel like something is missing when I don't have Puppy.

Wonder how many other nearly 32 year olds sleep with their childhood stuffed animal....more than that, I wonder how many people will fess up to it ;)

Friends are friends forever..

And friends are friends forever
If the lord's the lord of them
And a friend will not say never - cause the welcome will not end
Though it's hard to let you gone the father's hands we know
That a lifetime's not too long to live as friends.
- Michael W. Smith

Yeah -- I' m not sure who is more surprised than me that I just quoted Christian Rock in my blog but there you have it.

Despite my own personal convictions, I have always loved the chorus of this song and the above quoted text. Ignoring the religious implications, the sentiment is just lovely.

This weekend I had the honour and privileged of spending time in Ottawa with 4 amazing women. Three of whom I had met in person before, 1 of whom I had not -- we all met on that there internet thing in the process of planning our weddings and in the aftermath. I knew when we were planning our weddings, that some of us wouldn't make it. Divorce is very real and in fact, one of the women with us this weekend has divorced and is now engaged to the love of her life -- everything for a reason. What I never in my wildest dreams imagined was that we would have to deal with the death of one of our spouses -- at least not 4 years after the fact but sadly, we did. On December 22, 2004, my dear, dear friend Laurie lost her husband Brian. When I tell you that I was mere moments from flying up to Ottawa on 12/22, I'm not kidding. When I tell you that before last Friday, I had never met Laurie in person -- you may think I am crazy. But the one thing I have learned in the last almost 11 years is that love isn't rational. Friendships are made because they need to be made and they are all important and all significant. The people who you are meant to have in your life find you -- or you find them but there is a reason for it all.

I have always believed that when you love someone, you should just tell them -- not telling them is a perfect moment lost and there are too few moments in our lives to risk losing any.

Hug the people in your life -- heaven knows I try to.

OK -- yeah, I kinda suck at this

I should be better -- I really should. Almost daily I have ideas about stuff I should write...but clearly, I don't. Hell, I doubt anyone even reads this but who knows. Maybe I'll be better.

It's Sunday night -- I am headed to Buffalo tomorrow (yea, stop being jealous because I know you are). I've just spent the last hour searching for anyone and everyone I might possibly know on Friendster.com. I found a few people including Seth -- I hope he actually checks in and writes back. Seth was my best friend in the 8th grade and I guess we were kind of boyfriend and girlfriend in that way that you were when you were 13 in 1987. We spent all of our time together, we talked on the phone for hours a night -- we went on 1 date and he kissed me the night we graduated from the 8th grade. And then we were both so weirded out that we never did that again. Sometimes I really wonder where all of the people go that were once the most important parts of my life...maybe it's just a lesson that I need to learn to cherish the people that are here now because they are all here for a reason...so if you're reading and you're in my life...thank you :) Don't nobody go nowhere!