How much better? So much better.

I moved a lot as a young person. Lots and lots and lots. Well, not like an army brat, but I had lived in something near eleven places before college – most of these within a seven-year span. So for much of my early life, I was alone but for my family. Not to knock my family – they’re great – but I assumed that, having always been pretty much alone, I would always be pretty much alone. My pre-Flint life was a litany of towns and names to remember but never to return to. That’s why it came as a shock when I started to make friends. I didn’t really trust much of the initial approach/retreat (think of a golden retriever puppy faced with a balloon), but I eventually made some lasting friends. Overall, I decided, friendship was worth it – was worth the changed living patterns and the lack of family time, was worth even the ache of distance.

So to try to explain this post, the last few hours have given me enough of something – I can't define what – to endure another few weeks of Monday night class. I have become a social(ish) person; I know people now whom I want to know for the rest of my life. I don’t know quite how to deal with this, but I’ll figure it out. I’m glad to no longer live in relative isolation. It is a strange new thing, and I still get pretty awkward at times. I suppose this is one of those times: an official thank-you to everyone who’s been there at the bar, be it Paddy McGee’s (bonjour, Indiana Dribbler and Puppet-Master), The Torch (Bionda, Boxer, Welshman, Jesus with a Toothpick), McGoff’s (tonight’s shout goes to Quest, D33p, and Penguin, but so many of you are missing - Atalanta, Baller), or elsewhere; at the apartment, whether the attic, the house (like the new sink, Gangles?), or the quad on Third; in the office (Casey, Spaz, and Speardane, I just found a picture of the fly-swatted fairy), the roadie room, or the booth at UMF (Tommy, I hope Wayne State is treating you well). Plus, more of you who aren’t named here – maybe I forgot, maybe I don’t have a nickname for you yet, but please don’t be offended. All of you I miss or will miss more than I can explain even to myself; to some of you I owe more than my life. Maybe tomorrow I’ll look at this post, decide it’s too maudlin, and kill it, but for now, I don’t know how I would make it through this world without these connections, no matter how strained by time and distance. I know I can make it on my own, but I no longer want to. Thanks to everyone who’s ever laughed or complained with me. For those of you who have left or who are about to leave, I hope we meet again.

And I'm not drunk.