Rolodex Gratitude Ex. #3: Friends, D-H

Please enjoy this playlist that I put too much effort into. If you're not a freak like me on Youtube Music, here it is on Spotify . And if it's skewing not your taste, do me a great honor by passing it along to an emotional teen in your life:

?? For important context on what the hell this is and why it's on LinkedIn:

?? Please have a look at Rolodex Gratitude Ex. #2 ??

In short, though, this is a wildly self-indulgent recounting of all the friendships I've held in my adulthood and why I'm grateful for them.

These “Rolodex Exercises” are meant to thank all of you with whom I am "linked," to acknowledge your permanent place in my life’s story and in my digital orbit, and to invite you to share your own growth and creative impulses with me as I practice writing in public.?

Two blanket statements to begin:?

There is one friend in particular who I need to thank first: Vanessa Salvatori , for doing exactly what I knew she could when I hired her for Haulsale and keeping enormously complex shit above water, even when it was all falling apart.?

And to all The Dougies: I want to issue a public apology for my tenure as VP Internal Organ Damage.

So, thank you to:

?? Kaitlin D'Avella for allowing me to refer to myself as her Co-President.

?? Cassidy Davidson Fogarty for never giving up on me or herself.

?? Quinlan Deer for selling me a jacket I’ll never forget.

?? Pauline Del Val ?for letting me make up her gorgeous face on a critical occasion.

?? Sarah Dimmock for bringing culinary culture to the masses.

?? Mecca Donovan for being honest with me that my Buffalo apartment smelled like a goat.

?? Tamsin Duff for holding my lawn chair while we hung streamers in a moving cargo van whipping around Vegas.

?? Miriam Dreiblatt for embracing my nature as an un-flowy maximalist.

?? Shayna Dwor for trusting her heart and leaping with faith.

?? Jennifer Easton for celebrating my 30th with me when I REALLY needed it.

?? Kimber Lee Falkinburg for fighting a good fight.

?? Alexis Fefer for doing that higher-ed BD grind with me.

?? Katie Flahive for being a Strong Island angel.

?? Natasha Flath for extremely high-stakes car karaoke and taking a similar life route to me.

?? Francisco Flores for fixing my Swiffer.

?? Ben Forstate for catching me up on US and global affairs and generously letting me reconnect our like minds from time to time.

?? Mylène Gérémie for gracing our café with top-tier tunes.

?? Natalie Gershtein for realizing my heart was not in the theater like hers, and telling me “it’s ok if you don’t want to do it.”

?? Sylvia Glaude for holding down Canada with me.

?? Brian Gomola for choosing me as family and always being a gate-opener.

?? Kathleen B. Gomola for my favorite high school graduation gift.

?? Megan Habig for radiating beauty and joy in a fraught environment.

?? Marcella Hall for juggling so many important, emotionally volatile things and still letting herself have fun.

?? Maya Harrington for talking shop with me every time we meet.

?? Ian Hede for reminding me of myself, Marcela Hede for always seeing through me and never taking an ounce of my bullshit, and Neil Hede for making me funny.

?? David Hernon for always chasing his dreams while still paying his bills.

?? Sabrina Herrera for helping me ride out my Hartford residence.

?? Alice Higgins for, Collette Higgins for being my cousin even when she's not, and Kenneth Higgins for holding my IUD signage.

?? Corbin Huber Smith for testing the limits of BYOB policies at French bistros with value meals.

?? Kelsey Hunter for being my convention buddy and getting to know me at a weird time.

?? Simon M. Hurdon for carrying sweet Margaux around like the precious, queenly cargo she is.

And I-Z should be below...