I’m Beautiful Like Me.

Yesterday, T, Buddha and I accompanied P to her niece and nephew’s birthday party. It’s so hard to believe these kids are 20 and 17 years old now - I remember when they were knee-high to a smurf! I love them like they are my own family. Little redheaded Leos, only not so little anymore.

We had pizza and P’s famous Mexican dip. P’s brother-in-law and I talked about our love for Tom Waits and he hooked up me up with the Box Set. T and I won the balloon toss and a water-balloon war ensued. I have battle injuries! I had a great time and so did Buddha. I’m betting T did, too, although she’d never admit it. Between T and I, we took over a hundred pictures! Here’s a less-than-three-minute slideshow of the festivities that took me over an hour to make. Enjoy!

So, yesterday I find out that Theee One and Only Tom Waits is doing a Summer Tour! Oh, goodness, my heart skipped a beat. Dare I imagine what type of experience that might be?

I almost wish I hadn’t. There are absolutely no tickets for the two closest venues (which, might I add, aren’t that close at all).

I’m heartbroken.

Since I first “met” Tom many Springtimes ago, I have loved him. He is The Storyteller. He intrigues me. It would be his name I would answer to the question “If you could lunch with anyone, who would it be?” I don’t even need to speak to him. I just want to listen. Well, and take pictures! We could smoke too many cigarettes and drink coffee ’til I get the shakes (switch to beer?) and I would just listen and he’d tell me some stories. I wouldn’t even care if they were true.

Sigh.