A New Meme

Well, since I'm on the road with all kinds of ideas for my blog but not much time, I've decided I might as well take another step closer to the meme rehab center. I'm brewing my own this go-around, but, you know, as long as it serves its purpose, who cares if it tastes a little too sweet. It's a feel-good meme. Here are the rules:


1. Get out of your thought-this-was-gonna-be-the-best-summer-ever-and-it's-already-disappointing-me funk
2. Not out of that funk yet? Then think of ten (that's ten, not eight, because I've still never had anyone tell me why memes fixate on the number 8) great compliments you've received throughout your life
3. Write them down
4. If you're not out of your funk by now, come over and have a mai tai with me, and then we won't give a damn whether we have the best summer of our lives or not
5. Tag a bunch of people

10 Great Compliments I've Received

1. The sweetest, most brilliant, most kind and gentle man with the best sense of humor I've ever met (sorry to disappoint all you males out there who think I'm describing you. Unless you're married to me, I'm not, although I'm sure you're a very close second) chose me to be his lifelong partner. And he hasn't changed his mind. And he still laughs at my stories and jokes.

2. Despite the fact I'm extremely flattered that this man has chosen me, he sometimes forgets how lucky he is and has to be reminded. For instance, he has a tendency to walk about twenty paces ahead of me when we're, oh, let's just say, on 42nd Street, racing to get tickets for the theater and then to get down to Yankee stadium for a game. One day, we find ourselves in this very situation and a wonderful, charming, extraordinarily insightful shoe shine guy (and I have to point out, he stood no chance of making any money off us, because we were both wearing sneakers), said to me "You are beautiful," and called out to the back of Bob's head, "You slow down for her and quit running her so hard. You're a very lucky man!" (Imagine how often those lines get repeated, substituting "me" for "her," of course.)

3. A few years back, I bought I Capture the Castle for a friend who'd never read it. When he finished it, his comment to me was, "You could have written that book." If you were to put a gun to my head and say "Name your favorite book," this would probably be the answer. To have someone tell me I could've written such a book...well, the man can now do no wrong.

4. Oh, and speaking of men who can do no wrong, we all know what Mandarine did that moved him into that category. Of course, he's also offered to take me touring cheese caves, which is extra insurance.

5. When I left my former job, 2 of the editors I'd supervised also left within months. I know, this may have been a coincidence, but I like to think it's because they didn't want to work for the company without me there. I had a hint this was the case, because when I held the meeting to announce I was leaving, one of them said, "Do we slit our wrists now or later?"

6. Our first year in college, my roommate and I went to see It's a Wonderful Life together. Afterwards, she said to me, "Emily, if you'd never been born, I wouldn't have survived this first semester." Up until that point, I'd never watched that movie thinking in terms of how I might have affected others in my life, so focused was I on what a true hero old ordinary George Bailey was.

7. My twelfth-grade psychology teacher told me I was one of the most discerning young women she'd ever met. Hmmm...I wonder if that's why I went on to become a pscyh major in college.

8. My brother, who is the best chef I've ever known, not only will eat what I cook, but will also praise it. And I know he's not just being polite, because he'll also have seconds.

9. I was carded at the liquor store when I was 37. No, that's not a typo. I didn't mean 27, I really did mean 37. For some reason, I had a bit of a hard time finding my licence, and I remember saying to the woman, "Forget the gin. Don't sell it to me if you don't want to. You just made my day, and I want to find this, so I can show you how old I am." I found it, and she said, "Really, you look like a college kid." I almost jumped over the counter and hugged her.

10. A few years back, my sister sent around one of those emails in which the recipient was supposed to come up with a one-word description for the sender and send it back, while passing on the message to others to do the same. If you replied to the sender, she was supposed to send back her one-word description of you. (Can you tell my sister had pre-teenaged daughters at the time?) My sister's one-word description of me was "funny."

Tagging: Litlove, Courtney, Charlotte, Dorr, Hobs, Ian, Froshty, Becky, Cam, Stef, Fem, and The-Man-Who-Can-Do-No-Wrong-Who's-Invited-Me-To-Tour-Cheese-Caves. (I'd tag you, Danny, but I know how you feel about memes.) If you're reading this and feel the need to get out of a funk, consider yourself tagged as well. Throwing caution to the wind and briefly being immodest for a change is better than ten sessions with the best shrink in the world. I'm sure of it.