For Auld Lang Syne

I lift my glass to times of yore.

To driving with Eva all night listening to “Father Figure” tsk-tsk loud as we drove past their homes thinking maybe, maybe they’d hear and understand.  To us drinking coffee all night long and somehow getting served wine at Cushing Street.  To trips to Mexico and our crazy superstitious need to listen to those certain songs.  To 200 pills shoved in my bra. To plane trips to Austin and the pink-dress-clad monkey.

To Ditching pep-rallies and being rebels with a cause.  To the trombone.  To being the first ones to e-mail one another and randomness.  When you met Teddy and then when you graced my life with Brad.  To gloves of highlighter ink and being drunk at 5:00pm.  To nights when it was just us and a world to discuss.  To your insides shining to me across a campus and us never thinking we’d be under the same roof as our sisters made fools of themselves.  To thinking about death and babies ALL THE TIME. To you, Jenny.

To that night on the plane.  To the naked stick man. To Deanna. To discovering Pearl Jam and how it changed our lives. To Justin and how he changed our lives.   To 10 days in Flagstaff that branded me forever.  To being poor but feeling rich.  To one night in KGB.  To Santa Clara and being blood sisters in my heart. To falling to my knees in gratitude that we met in Kindergarten.  To purple hair and Bettie Page. To ordering Taco Bell in the take off of an acid binge.  To every time I see you and how much I miss you. To EDINBORO, which, even meeting and knowing Chuck, would have been meaningless without you.

To all these years. To Julian and Carmine and Nose of the News and News for the Nosey. To Sunnyside School District Bus 66.  To the luxury bathrooms and that whole year book thing. To being alive because of you. To Ernie and Ari and the WORLD SERIES BABY.  To the mall. Buying $50 shirts because we wanted to. To Zero the Red Nosed Dead Dog and Martin. TO being the one who helped me live my dream. To Eddie Bauer air-beds and chicken rolls. To the 1 Train that took us everywhere. TO NEW YORK. To you being the only person who can sit inside of me and discuss everything. To all the stuff we still will do. I not only toast, but bow to you, Andrea.

To Beth and Tori and nights in Tucson I still cry about.

To Bryon and Paul and laughing. Laughing.

To Ari coming into my life like a daylight.

To Justin coming and going like breath.

To Brad without whom I would know nothing of wine and less of humor. Whose songs fill my brain like funny candies.

To my Dad.

My Dad.