Ode to Susan

Well, you lucked out girl. The picture that I wanted put on here, which would've been really funny, I couldn't it get to scan successfully. So instead, you get to look normal. These are a few of my favorite Susan things: Ralph Munson and the Knit-Wits, Bones McCracken, Officer Lawson, Pale Divine, going to see the Springfield Lasers and making Susan make the phone call for the tickets, sleeping in the taco bed the night before my wedding, nubbins, the story about her blowout at the airport, the story about when she made Thanksgiving dinner, lighting up the chiminea and listening to Led Zeppelin and Janis Joplin, forcing her to listen to Steely Dan and Supertramp, the wine and cheese party she had long ago at her house and I got lost in the closet, mojitos and sangria at Anna Maria Island, Evil Susan, Dirty Jim James, tennis lessons with Ed, Redford, MO and my first sobriety test in Willow Springs, the Van Gogh exhibit in St. Louis, the redneck, Mr. Cat, Asian and red-headed men, the time she met us for Mardi Gras in St. Louis and Joe beat up the old man (just kidding...) at Venice Cafe, wine spritzers and Neil Diamond, Daughters of Snatch, taking naps, the baby shower she and Mel threw me, the bachelotette party we threw for Shierine, the Muffin Man, what she did for that painting that hung in her living room, the Antler, her and Mel dressed up as 1950's prom dates, sushi and Cosmopolitans, girl's nights at Arris with Shierine, did you know she loves Adam Sandler?, her obsession with the Kansas Jayhawks, Ray Liotta, the time Susan and Jill Wise tried to paper my house, felting, the day we saw Rushmore and it snowed. Oh yeah, I just remembered that one Sunday, maybe it was after Halloween, and we were all hungover, and we played board games all day at your house then went to that KFC buffet for dinner, and I wore my houseshoes there. There's more, of course, because alot happens over the course of 15 years of friendship. I'm thankful for the friends I've made through such things as work and church, but there's nothing like those deep relationships between girlfriends who have been through so much together. When you share that history, it gives a real sense of authenticity to the friendship. So here's to new chapters in our lives, new beginnings and more fun adventures ahead. And at the end of it all, I expect for you girls to be in the rocking chairs next to me, wearing support hose and drinking extra dirty filthy martinis. See you there.