Thanksgiving Gratitude List

Today is thanksgiving and it is 2:10 a.m.  Insomnia is fierce and I am wide awake.  So I thought I’d put together a gratitude list in honor of the Thanksgiving holiday complete with photographs.

In 2009, I have been grateful for:

My awesome family who is always supportive and inspires me to be better every day.

For having had the opportunity to know just how much my best friends mean to me, and how much I love them.

(just a sampling)

The good good health of Lavan, Seamus, and Little Cat and all the joy and life the bring to the apartment.

The opportunity to be a part of three absolutely magical weddings, Melissa and Dave, Nicole and Peter, and Robyn and Steve.

A job that at love to go to because the people are so fun and funny and we pull all sorts of rediculousness throughout the day.

The Year of the Serpent- being able to see my own creation performed, it was amazing.

My beautiful God Daughter, Hannah Rose

Arlington Street Church and church choir.

Being a part of Boston Theatre Review and getting to see so many wonderful shows this year.

and of course, Kaze Shabu Shabu.

I love you all, thank you for so many wonderful things to be grateful for.

Feathers and Pumpkins and the silver color of rain…

It isn’t that I don’t have a lot to write about these days, I do.  Time though, won’t stop and allow me the opportunity to catch up with myself.  So I put it off another day. Squelch the panic, soothe the nerves, pretend that there is nothing new to report, happy sad or otherwise.  I fold my life neatly into itself and confidently exclaim that “nothing new is up” when prompted.  I suppose, really, that nothing -is- new, not on the outside at any rate, but for every moment of sameness, there is so much difference that I cannot really name any one thing that I can or would tell the world of blog.

Halloween 2008 seems like 10 years ago to me, not one, and if I close my eyes and barely make a sound then I can almost partially remember what it felt like on my insides this time last year.  So much about me has changed.  Healed bits of me that I feared would be forever broken are not- and that is very good.  Things that I thought were solid have shattered like so much ribbon candy- and that is more sad than it is bad- I don’t think that broken things can ever be as mind numbing and all consuming as they once were to me.  Part of me has died- the young part that ached with emotions is pretty solid.  I cannot think, offhand, of the last time that someone and not some thing has made me cry.  The old standbys- maple syrup commercials, hallmark movies, hospital dramas, still get me to tear up, but humans have bereft me of sadness these days.  It feels good.  It feels dangerous. Sometimes I miss what it felt like to have last year.

Here are some photographs of things that have been important to me since last I wrote:

Alexis broke up with Mike.

Nicole and Peter got married.

Robyn and Steve got married.

Christopher started working with me at Suffolk.

I am reviewing 3 shows this weekend.  Its going to be rad.  I’m bringing back the word rad.  Deal with it.

Freedom is nothing else but a chance to be better.~ Albert Camus

This is a pictorial representation of my 4th of July weekend. I had an absolutely phenomenal time, and even though I have hurt my back again, I look at this weekend as one of the best I’ve had in awhile.

On Friday, Jacob and I had a picnic in the back yard for a few people. Nothing big, but I made my famous

chicken wings

and Jacob made his famous

Jello flag cake.

We all sat around and had drinks, played the Wii, talked and had a very nice, very quiet, very stress-free time. When the evening fell, a few of us decided to head into Boston to see the

fire works.

It was very crowded but the display was beautiful, ever more beautiful than it is when you watch it on the television.

On Saturday Jacob and I had planned to go to the beach, but it was mild and overcast, not a good beach day at all, in fact, so we decided to alter our plans. We stayed in bed late and looked at a

DNA magazine together, before getting up and showering and tending to the dog. Then we got in the car and headed out for lunch at

the Texas Roadhouse. I had a little sirloin steak and my favorite ranch dressing on a salad. It was delicious. After lunch, we decided it would be a good idea to head over to our local neighborhood

Costco, to get a membership and do some shopping. We picked up a lot of good things for the house, and the both of us wanted to get a

memory foam pillow to replace our gross ones. We also headed over to petco to get Lavan a treat and then went out to Sports Authority to get a tennis racket for Jacob. We finished up our night at the coolest restaurant I have been to since I moved to Boston. I mean, anyone who knows me knows that I am a great fan of soup, but this is a totally fun and cool way to eat called Shabu Shabu. You dip things into broth to make a delicious soup as you eat and in the end you have this delicious, flavorful soup to eat with noodles. I loved it!! I want to go back again soon to eat more

shabu shabu!

Today, Jacob and I took Lavan to the park at Stonybrook, where he and Korland played a few rounds of

tennis. Lavan and I watched and also played fetch with a rogue tennis ball in a little fenced in part of the park. She loves to run off leash, and we finished up with a run through the sprinkler system they have set up for people to cool off on hot days. After a delicious late lunch of

hamburgers

stuffed mushrooms and

madeleines, I headed off to Wakefield for a first act stumble through of our summer musical,

bare.

All in all I had a wonderful, colorful, weekend and I would not change a thing, except perhaps throwing out my back again while lifting up the huge tub of kitty litter!!!

Ever Virgin.