Salvation Amy

Carly planned a daddy daughter day with Scott today.  They went out to lunch and then to a movie.

She Said: "Hey, Dad.  Do you want to go see a chick flick, or a cowboy movie?"

Guess what they saw?

Love Her.

DSC_0113
Originally uploaded by gsdali.

How can you not love someone’s photos of penguins? They’re PENGUINS

Go to this page for a great clip of David Letterman interviewing Bill O’Reilly and just tearing him to bits and pieces.  Unfortunately, I can’t isolate the link, so you have to scroll down for it.  It originally aired on 1/3/06.  Then go to the "Show info"  link on the drop down menu and e-mail Dave and tell him how very much you adore him.

See What I Mean?
Originally uploaded by akbutler214.

Some people grow on you. With other people, you just know from the get go.

I met Mary when I was 16. She was almost 18. We were on our way to Thailand for a year. Given the proximity of our last names in the alphabet, we were roommates at our week long orientation in San Francisco, and an overnight layover in Tokyo. Given her southern belle charm and clean cut good looks, and my intrinsic dorkiness, it should have been one of those disasters the fates throw at you.

Instead, it was one of those times when the universe conspires on your behalf to send you something amazing. Some part of yourself that you never knew you were missing.

Mary has this incredibly easy, gut busting laugh that sends tears streaming down my face. She gets my jokes and she cracks me up.

We share the same visions of things. As she would say, we get each other.

Mary was my first friend to vote, while we were in Thailand, and I remember watching her fill out her absentee punch ballot like I was watching the whole democratic process unfold before my eyes. It probably has something to do with the way that I end up feeling like a grown up whenever I walk into a voting booth.

One night we went to Bangkok’s seedy sex bar section, at that time prominent on vacation packages for pervy farangs. We went in our chic Thai school uniforms. I don’t remember who else was there, but I remember laughing with Mary until we cried about the strip club menus hawked by the men outside the clubs, featuring items like "69s (ups and downs)" and "lebsians." She is still and forever my lebsian sister.

She was the first friend I ever had who could make me laugh, even when I was furious with her. Lying on a beach outside of Bangkok one day, fuming at her, I remember her turning to me and saying "I know you aren’t speaking to me. But I thought you might like to know that that old man just paid that boy five baht to rub his balls…." And then we’re in hysterics and unable to contain ourselves in the face of the grossness.

When we flew home, we walked through a California airport, hand in hand, as was common for Thai school girls. Sadly, as we said our goodbyes, I noticed the looks that garnered, and felt a part of myself drifting away.

She visited once in Vermont, from her home in Savannah, after we got back. We got giggly and idiotic waiting for her bags, and rode the baggage carousel, cross-legged until we got to the back and were greeted by a man with a badge. Turns out this is a federal offense.

Over the years that followed, we were sporadically in and out of touch. College, marriage, relationships, jobs and children took up our days as we moved on through our lives.

But still, when we spoke, we remained linked at a gut level. We each would inevitably greet the incoming call with "I was JUST talking about you, right now."

And recently, she’s been back. We now live within two hours of each other, and get to see each other from time to time.

She’s still the most gorgeous woman I know, in a non-lebsian way.

She is the mom of Sam and Sydney now, married to an outside agitator.

She’s weathered incredible hardship over the last year, with the loss of her mom, and the day to day of marriage and the turning over of her firstborn to the kindergarten authorities. And she has done it with an indescribable grace and honesty.

She is one of the truest people I know. And she still makes me laugh until I cry.

Lee & Susan Brickey
Originally uploaded by akbutler214.

These are my grandfather’s grandparents.  I like the way they look like they’re happy together, even though they’ve been together forever. 

Looking through old censuses (censi?) and stuff last year I got sort of interested in him.  His father married 5 times, and outlived all of his wives.  Lee’s mother was dead by the time she was 25, and Lee was about 4 or 5 at the time.

Then in a census in the late 1800s, he shows up in Arkansas with a wife and 3 daughters.  By the next census they are gone, and he’s in Missouri, married to Susan.  With these little bits of information, I thought of him as a person that survived more than his share of loss.

So it was fun to see him in these home movies, looking happy and in love, even though he looks like he’s about 100 in this picture.  Hard to tell from here, but in the whole context, they’re sort of playing and laughing with each other.

Gran
Originally uploaded by akbutler214.

For Christmas, Mom had some old home movies transferred to DVD.  I’ve been playing with them, and pulling screen caps off.  Unfortunately, the quality isn’t as clear as I’d like, but this is my gran in the olden days.  I think they’re camping here.  Isn’t she gorgeous?