Dear Professor

My favorite blogger (Charlie) is not doing too well (Suffers from emphysema, I believe). Rushed to the hospital and all. I told Scott I was little worried this time. Usually he goes missing, but turns back up and fills us all in on the latest calamity. Or to complain that the ambulance driver wouldn't turn on the siren. But this time he had a friend post for him to let us all know of the situation.

If you've never visited his page before, I highly recommend it. You can even leave a little note of encouragement to his long suffering wife Martha.

It's weird to feel so connected to someone you have never met, but his comments on my crap hole of a blog have always brightened my day. His blog is far superior, whether he's being his usual curmudgeony wise ass or dipping into his painfully serious past with alcoholism.

I find myself checking every few hours to see if his friend has left an update, but so far it's just been an ever-growing comment thread from his hundreds of "followers." We should all hope to be so loved.

jd

So I missed my best-friend-since-fifth-grade's birthday.

It's not like it's a hard one to remember, seeing how it's on April Fool's Day. And seeing how my own daughter's birthday is five days later. But it seems I am constantly using my blog to wish belated birthdays and hoping that my fond recollections will somehow make up for my lack of innate timeline. So, to my best friend Gerri...

Thank you for being there in the back row of Mr. Burger's classroom.
Thank you for helping me sneak all those notes into Aaron Mahilo's locker.
Thank you for saving me my swing.
Thank you for taking basketball stats with me.
Thank you for not laughing at me for being a Falconette.
Thank you for appreciating the movie Meet Me in St. Louis.
Thank you for taking driver's ed with me.
Thank you for driving me to school every day after that.
Thank you for breaking up with Fletch for me.
Thank you for pulling barn duty with me at the fair.
Thank you for helping me establish the Laws of the Midway.
Thank you for pretending I'm half as bad-ass as you are.

And thank you for always being my friend, no matter how long it is in between our conversations and visits. (It's always too long, and I know that is my fault.)

Happy Birthday!