You Can Tell A Lot About A Person If They Like The Coen Brothers

My friend, Barbara, gave me this award. Finding its origin here, I'll follow its directions:

"You are never a burden.. don't ever think that. Friends need each other to pick them up when they are down and I would do nothing less."
Dawn Drover~ Twisted Sister

A Million Dollar Friend is the kind of person who instinctively knows what it means to be a good friend; this kind of person makes you look forward to the days ahead and fondly remember the days that have passed.
A Nice Place In The Sun

I had just started my contest when 4 days later Jason died suddenly (clicking on his name will bring up all the posts chronicalling my dealing with his loss). It still takes a lot to keep focussed on current tasks and I burst into tears at rather random triggers. For example, while researching this award, I ended up on a site that played Christmas music. Last holiday season we had Jason. That hit hard, thinking about this coming winter without him.

My contest took a back seat to all the family stuff during that first month, but I had one really good entry. Patrick submitted a story about a Grateful Dead concert experience. After I informed him he'd won, he sent me a heartfelt email that at once made me feel both reconnected to the world and painfully aware of how my view of the world had been shaken.

It was nice to feel support from someone online out there. I am so lucky to be part of my wife's family who are so close and open and supportive and wonderful, but Patrick was a "million dollar friend" when I needed it. He's got a fun blog, loves The Dead and Springsteen, and has great taste in humor, wishing Bill Murray would get more credit and listing "The Big Lebowski" as his top funny movie (can't wait to see "Burn After Reading"). Oh, and he's got some kick-ass ties.


Peace.