"You're Smart, We'll Keep You"- Swan

Kara, Jessica (aka Swan) and Myself at my grandparents beach house in Oceanside, Kelly is taking the Picture.

This is a Classic Swan Quote and I love it eventhough I can't remember genesis of this particular little nugget. It totally encapsulates how I feel about my new friend Kara, a colleague and friend of Swan's at James Goodman Middle School in Cathedral City, CA. That Evening, when we had dinner at 11 pm, seeing as we lost track of time playing cards and shooting the shit, I made a toast to Friends New and Old being together. As my days in the U.S dwindle (most people talk as if I'm never coming back making sure I get to do things I enjoy as I will quote "never be able to do them again," see family and friends for One Last Time and "What am I going to have for my Last Meal?") I've come to treasure each moment I have with my family and close friends, despite the creepiness of it all. And it is a privilege to meet the people important to them, nice to know that they have great people around them and that their lives are going the direction they want when I am gone. I will miss them of course and can only hope they will miss me as much, but I know that they are happy and supported by the people around them. These friends may not be any good at darts, and there may or may not be a few sailors floating around out there with pictures of us crouched on the ground picking up our blue darts that did not make it or stick to the ground, but they have many other redeeming qualities.
So I raise my glass, which happens to be a blue, plastic thing left over from the 80s, a bit melted at the edges but indestructible to my Olympic caliber accident prone-ness and uncoordinated. Here's to you my loved and precious ones, I think I'll keep you.