Here's To Us! Who's Like Us? Damned Few!

A blog friend posted a list that I thought was quite fun – a list of her blogger friends she identified simply by writing a line or 2 to describe them. No names – the blogger friends had to guess who they were. I liked it a lot and was especially flattered since she listed me as one of her new friends. But her list made me think – I wouldn’t be able to make a list of blog friends. To be sure, I have a few cherished friends, but not the 27 that my buddy Natalie listed. Popular girl! So what do I have that you might find interesting? Hmmmm. I have a list of friends you don’t know, some of whom lurk in and out without leaving comments, some of whom send me private email to talk about my blog thoughts and some of whom don’t know about the blog at all. Some of them also wend their ways through my stories and poetry – for good or ill. By knowing a little about them, you’ll know a little more about me.

1. My partner and friend. If I could snowboard, what fun we’d have! If you loved musical theater, what fun we’d have! And still, every day with you is fun.
2. You were my sunshine and now you bring your sunshine to other lucky people. Thanks for encouraging me to start this blog in the first place.
3. A new friend I’d like to know more and more of. It’s wonderful to have a girls’ evening with sisters – grown up girls with the hearts of sorority sisters.
4. My friend from the day of my birth to the day of my death (some long distant day in the future!). I love you for our past, present and future together, and I love you for the roots you give me to my own history. I love you forever.
5. Even though you are daughter to my friend, I’d be proud to have you as my own child. It’s breathtaking watching you grow into a beautiful woman, touched by Mediterranean sunshine. I’ll miss you this summer as you stretch on newfound wings.
6. My baby brother, who pokes at me to see if my head will spin off. My baby brother, my friend. We are part of each other. Alike but not. Different but the same. You grew up to be a wonderful son, husband, father, brother, man. I love you always.
7. You wore two different colored sox. A mixture of giggles and fears, we laughed at the world.
8. With you I learned to give voice to what I want instead of accepting the wants of others. I learned to fight – not always fair. And I learned to fly, loving the shriek of peepers in the dusk and the scent of summer nights.
9. You taught me to see color and to look at the world differently. We were like an unfinished song left in a piano bench. No longer my love, still my friend.
10. The state of your birth may be black and white, but you’re Technicolor. Long talks from the heart go better over ginger martinis. You’ve added giggles to my life and three people to my family of choice.
11. The power of genetics. We look like vaguely out of focus photos of each other, one version younger than the other. You have my twinkling sense of humor and my belief that hair is a coloring book. How much more alike would we have been if so many miles hadn’t kept us apart? I adore you.
12. We were children playing at being in love. I still have some leftover dreams that, like worn out, discarded jeans, would only fit on you. Another long ago love, now a cherished friend.
13. “He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad,” may be the opening line of Scaramouche, but I think Raphael Sabatini might have been describing you. We share a twisted sense of irony, arrogance, laughter and exile.
14. East Coast tough as nails on the outside, tender hearted on the inside. If I ever need an advocate, I want you by my side. I’d trust you with my life, too.
15. Leaders like you are born and I’d follow you into a foxhole. With a dictionary and a thesaurus just to be on the safe side.
16. Sometimes I long for who we used to be in the old times when we clung only to each other, like flowers dying in the rain. But I’m proud of the way we grew and the way we learned to love. Missing you feels as though vital parts of me have been amputated.
17. I’m so glad you turned out not to be cousins so we could love the same children. Great companions through travel and through life. My expanded family.
18. Bravery to fight on, without a knight in shining armor, you never let fear stop you. Cooking and singing and dreaming for more, you don't talk the talk, but you sure walk the walk.
19. You saved me from myself and taught me to look at the world as if I were seeing it for the first time. I wasn’t helpless after all, because you helped me.
20. You make everything more fun – museums, movies, cooking, laughing and being Italian – and most especially, shopping! I can’t wait for you and your wonderful kiddos to visit!
21. We love the same boys and the same children. You’re my brother and brother-in-law of choice rolled into one.
22. My five-year-old friend in the grown up clothes, what a grand father you’ll make!
23. I was determined not to love you but fell for you anyway. My friend and arbiter and sister-in-law of choice.
24. Brother of choice, I’ve spent more holidays with you than with anyone else, and they’ve all been far happier than the ones of my past.
25. We’ll be together again. Our story is far from over. After all, it’s only a plane ride. You made me feel safe for the first time. You are my family of choice – my friend, brother, mother, husband, sister, conscience and heart.
26. My heart. My peace. My secret smile. My laugh-out-loud-'til-tears-run-down-my face. My eyes wide open love. My safety. My strength. My forever life.

There are more, of course. I’ve left out the young ones – youth embarrasses too easily. I’ve purposely left out some other very special people, too. You may meet them another time. We’ll see.

In between the lines of this well loved list, you’ll find bits and pieces of me peeking out from behind this curtain of friends.