people

you know, i think that life is not necessarily "what you make of it". you can work really hard and build a rich, successful & powerful life and be terribly unhappy. you can make all the "right" choices and end up miserable. you can surgically alter yourself, make yourself "better"... but still be lonely. life isn't what you make of it. i think that maybe a life is made of the people who populate it.

i mean, take for instance my job. it's just a job, an 8 - 5 thing i get paid (not-so-great) to do... but i really love it. and you know why? the people. i have great co-workers - they make me laugh, they help me when i don't understand something or when i need a hand getting something done in a flurry of activity. considering that we spend all day within fingertip reach of each other, these are important things! i like going to work in part because of the three of them. (not to mention our customers, who run the gamut from lovely gift-bearing folks to run-of-the-mill to plain old odd.) :)

truly, my whole life isn't what i've made it. last night, our housewarming party revealed that loud and clear. our life is what it is because of the presence in it of all the crazy & wonderful people who were represented there ... and those who couldn't come. the richest, most fulfilling, most life-giving thing in my life i didn't make or cause to be. it's you guys. our friends. who give, laugh, listen, garden, support, love, feed, haul boxes and share your lives with us. we have the best people. not to mention my family, far-flung but wildly loved. that is what makes my life.

if i have made any of it myself, i can only claim to have excellent taste in friends. :)