I have to say that I've been having a major Long Winters craving lately, and lucky for me, they have a show coming up this weekend. I'm going! I've convinced my friends Amy and Keith to come along with me, since we listened to and enjoyed a lot of Long Winters during many legs of our road trip last year. This will be like endless hours driving in the Vanagon revisited, which is pretty perfect since I had such a great time. It's weird, but I have feelings of missing that trip and think of it longingly every now and then. There was something so freeing and cool about traveling from one amazingly beautiful place to the next (with a lot of blah flat road/desert in between), not knowing what exactly to expect, but having many great and often hilarious adventures along the way. (Like, me scaring away a poor little prairie dog when dealing with an intense stomach issue--I'll have you know I'm never eating at Applebee's again!--under an old railroad bridge in the middle of nowhere Utah. Or, the peeing in tupperware incident. Or, Amy and I gleefully jumping on the beds in one of our hotel rooms for a good 10 minutes, laughing the kind of hard laughter that makes you feel 100% free and happy.) Plus, just having an open amount of time to read, write, think, talk about major life things with friends, try new foods and activities, hang out in nature, etc. was awesome. That kind of thing doesn't come around all that often, so I think it's important to recognize and appreciate when it does.

Anyway, that's one lengthy reason I'm looking forward to TLW's show this weekend. The other is that I'm, embarrassingly, a superfan of this band. I think I've mentioned this before. No matter what, I pretty much become totally wrapped up in it the second they start playing, and I stand there consumed and grinning like an idiot the entire time. It's just what I do. Knowing this, the anticipation of going to the show gives me a little bit of a high in itself. I feel like this is exactly what the doctor ordered for my recent sad sack state.

Speaking of which, I know I've been doing this sickening "thing" lately where I gush about how grateful I am to have so many amazing people in my life. I know, I know. Even I can see how all this carrying on could lead to eye rolling and heavy sighs of annoyance and comments like, "There she goes again. Blahbitty blah." I'm sure the people who don't know me personally SO WISH they could be there for me right now (haha), and feel totally left out. I'm alienating my readers! My close friends and family are probably just sick and tired of all the mush and hearing about how wonderful they are and how much I adore them and all of that. "Enough is enough. Zip it, Megan!"

But...for now I persist, because I am receiving frequent reminders of how much love and support I have, even from unexpected sources, and I should acknowledge that rather than dwell only in the difficult. Waiting for this little heart to mend is so much more bearable with the friends who show up to hang out at my apartment with things like wine, ice cream, and episodes of Moonlighting (it rocks). The friends whose email replies always have me cracking up at my desk. The many people, from acquaintances to family, who have done and said so many nice things for me lately. My sister who blasts crappy pop songs like Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone" to make me smile. (OK, I have to admit that I actually like that one a teeny tiny bit and can get into it, but let's just keep that between you and me.)

Uh oh. I'm doing it again. I'm going to stop myself this minute (but, first, thank you everybody) and make the blog, at least temporarily, a mush free zone. I've already promised someone else that I will make the blog a safe zone again, too. As in safe from my emotional turmoil, much to your disappointment, I'm sure. :) Hmmmm. Safe and mush free. What am I going to write about?