For Claire

My cousin Claire e mailed me today and told me that I needed to blog more. Claire is not just my cousin, but she's also one of my best friends, so I pretty much do what she says. So here you have it; a post just for Claire. She better leave a comment.

I've actually come to relate to Claire a lot over the past few months. For the first 5 years she was married to Gjergji they lived in different cities. I often thought about how difficult that must have been. I can only imagine how hard it is to love someone and have to live apart from him.

Lately I've reached more of an understanding of how Claire must have felt. For the past month John has had migrations pretty much every night. That means that even though I get to talk to him every night I only get to see him on the weekends. I could try to explain eloquently how that feels, but I find that two words sum it up best: it sucks.

Claire has always had my respect. She's wicked smart. She's funny. She has great taste in wine. She admits that Jordan might be gay (even though we've learned that Jon was really the gay New Kid). Lately she's earned my respect on a new level. To be with someone and live time zones apart for years...that takes a lot of strength....we're talking the amount of strength to be a book club selection for Oprah. So kudos to Claire. Seeing how happy she and Gjergji are now proves that not seeing each other was worth it.

So thank you Claire, for all of the advice you've given me over the years. I treasure your friendship.