Further Instructions from the Godhead

I started writing something long and nostalgic, but then I realized that all the things I'm nostalgic for, I'd kill myself if I actually had to live through again.

So instead of the Remembrance of Things Past, I'd like to just reiterate- I am grateful, grateful to be here, and grateful to be writing like I'm meant to-

I'm grateful because I'm talented, and well-loved by good people. I'm grateful for the Alethea Pants, and for Scott Hart's patience. I'm thankful for Xala's humor, and Kelly Robinson's ability to see the world as not nearly as old as it is. I'm grateful for my parents, for my dad's stories, and my mom's understanding. I'm grateful for my brother; we haven't been nearly as good to eachother as either of us deserve, but we have plenty of time to figure it out.

I'm grateful to have had 14 years of living with my brother Aaron, and 25 years of knowing my Grandmother, who is still the most spectacular woman I will ever know. She worked for sixty years straight, raised her sisters and brothers, and then raised my mother and her sisters, and finished it off by being Grammy to all of us grandchildren and great grandchildren.

I'm grateful for my new sister, and my new nieces. I'm grateful that they make my parents young again.

I'm grateful for the store, and the people who call Inman Square home, and Inman Square itself. I have never known a better place- and it will be a sad day that I leave it for good.

I miss a lot of people on that list. I'm sorry about that.

I'm pretty much an asshole, most of the time. I'm not sorry about that.

And I am not happy, and I'm incredibly grateful for that.

Happyness is how you know you're being a sucker.