Here it is, my first letter of gratitude in a series of letters that I will be writing to certain individuals over the next three weeks up until Thanksgiving.

For  those of you who know me well, are probably not surprised at all who the recipient of my first letter of gratitude is.   

 Dear MLA (AKA Mary-Lou Ashton),

I think I can honestly say that you know me better than anyone.  You of all people know that under the sometimes “hard guarded exterior” is a complete and utter “marshmallow”.  In fact I think you are the only one ever in my life to refer to me as such.    

When I was in my late teens, early 20’s envisioning what my future life would look like; I would have never dreamed it could be as wonderful and bright as it is at this moment.   You my friend are the reason it is.   Yes, you! 

You have impacted my life in such a way that I can wholeheartedly say, I would not be who I am today if you had not come into my life.  Yes, you introduced me to this fantastic profession, but it didn’t stop there. You walked down this path with me and held my hand through every pitfall that got in my way.  In those moments when I felt like giving up, you would always say exactly what I needed to hear.  Even if it was “Stop your bitching and get back to work”.  I would laugh my butt off, and do just that, get back to work.   You would literally pick me back up and start me on the path again.  And for this I say THANK YOU!

Humour is one of the things that connected us…well, our certain sense of humour.  We can tell each other stuff that would make other’s blush, yet this is a normal everyday conversation for us.    You totally get my sometimes “sick” sense of humour and I absolutely get yours.  Remember the Skype conversation about a certain “interesting tid bit” that we had to come up with for the FoVA conference? Of course I can’t replay it here, but that’s the stuff I’m talking about!   You make me laugh like no one else ever has…and for that I say THANK YOU!

Friendship is not something that comes easy for me.  True friendship that is.  Yes, I have quite a few friends, but I’m talking about the friendship, that hits the “soul.”   That type of friendship that deserves the term “best friend”, yet as you know, I hate labelling anything.  I can count on one hand okay, maybe a few fingers, my “true friends”.   I have extremely high expectations for those that I allow to get inside “my bubble”.   It’s because, I feel too much.  I have an intense loyalty, respect and love for those close to me and quite honestly I would expect nothing less from them.  I can with my whole heart say to you “I would walk through fire for you”  and I know you would do the same for me.  That’s an extremely powerful friendship… one I am so grateful to experience in my lifetime…and for this I say THANK YOU!

I could actually go on about all the wonderful things you have brought into my life that I am eternally grateful for.  Of course, I may still be writing a year from now.  

So I will end my letter of gratitude to you now, with one of my favourite quotes, that I think fits so well with us.

“A Friend is someone who knows all about you and loves you anyway!!!”   LOL!!!   Ain’t that the truth!!

Love you my friend, now and always….My freaky freak!!

PS: Thank you for reading my blog every week and leaving a comment. .. you do this even  after  I have bored you  to tears with my stories for the past  11 years.    Now that’s true friendship! J