Trailer Wife

All week there has been something niggling at the back of my mind... like a bill I've forgotten to pay or a lunch date I blew off. And then tonight, in the throes of post-story-completion clarity, it came to me in a flood of heart-stopping, head-bashing agony.

So, Happy Birthday Amanda. Hope you can forgive your feeble-minded friend for not calling on the special day (Wednesday). My only excuse is something I'm calling Fairbanks fugue.

My ten favorite things about Amanda:
1. When sitting for a pedicure, she will choose the most ridiculous color available and totally pull it off.
2. She loves Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves almost as much as I do.
3. Whenever I see a jar of Marmite, I gag, and then smile, thinking of her smearing it on her morning toast.
4. Three words: The Witching Hour.
5. She has the most beautifully manicured eyebrows I've ever seen.
6. Because of her, I will now forever pronounce the word "gorgeous" with an English accent.
7. When I say, "Bosco Chicken Salad," she totally knows what I mean.
8. She is kind, passionate and full of grace... but more importantly, she is goofy, irreverent and a hopeless klutz.
9. That day in November 2007, when we sat all day in the writing studio of Alt Mor--the wood fire burning cheerfully, Stanley pacing peacefully, sheep bleating out the window--and talked for six hours straight.
10. She is a gift that Scotland gave me. (I miss you)