Acting as Annie Bidwell: Dude Three and How Can I Miss You If You Won't Ever Leave?

Dear Sillies,

  May this find you well and taking good care of yourselves.   

  Through no fault of my own, except that I chose another loser, Dude Three’s presence in my life poses an ongoing challenge. I know, right? I ended that relationship four months ago!

   Please stick with me, as we embark upon a seemingly unrelated, related story about my hometown.

   Chico, CA was founded by heroic trailblazer and statesman John Bidwell. John courted and married Annie Kennedy (not related to the famed Kennedy family) - Civil War era. This remarkable duo graced and saved countless lives –including those of Native Indians, on whose land we reside—brought trees from across the world onto our formerly desolate region, and much more.

     Annie and I were similar in a few ways: We were both the second of four children, both June babies passionate about social justice, and we abstain(ed) from drinking. Most strikingly, Annie was exactly my height – 4’8”. (John was at least 6’ tall. I have yet to meet anyone my exact height.)

     Annie Kennedy Bidwell (6/30/1839-3/9/1918)

  

   Let’s start to connect the dots: Approximately 6 weeks after the breakup, a neighbor, we’ll call her . . . let's see, "Skanky," messaged me. “We need someone short to play Annie Bidwell in the Christmas show. Are you up for it?”

   This involved welcoming guests into Bidwell Mansion (where the couple resided) and performing a skit with Skanky.  Skanky and I were friends, and she'd been in the skit for several years. Their usual Annie was out of the country.

   In short (pun intended), I couldn't turn it down. 

   Here’s me as Annie Bidwell.

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It was a big, little honor and loads of fun. 

Little (no pun intended this time) did I know what was going on behind the scenes…to be continued.

 

Now, It's All We Know and Have

Dears,

While times like these make words so hard to come by, they compel me to offer hope and inspiration. I don't have a new poem for you, but I'm bringing back Now. 

Now: It's all we have, and it holds the world.

Please take care, and keep a smile.

Love to you.

Now

We don’t know why.

We don’t know how.

All we know is what is now.

In now there’s hope, and breath, and life.

In now there’s poise to meet the strife.

In now resides all that we need

to face the tides ’til storms recede.

A glass half empty’s just as full.

The heart lifts more than sorrow’s toll.

We don’t know why.

We don’t know how.

All we know

is what is 

now.  

By me, 2011, and painting by me, 1981 (age 15)

Valentine's Hate, Fairytale Damning Contest WINNER!

Ladies and Gentlemen, Pets and Posers,

For the furr-st time in Life by Chocolate's history, the winner of our contest is not a human being. She's a feline being. But not an ordinary feline, mind you. She's royalty. That's right. The winner of our anti-Valentine's Day Fairytale Be Damned contest is . . .Her Royal Highness!

As Her Majesty endures relentless cat calls and photo shoots on the cat walk between cat naps, I shall ask her humanoid, Debra, to humbly accept the award in her honor.

Her Majesty's winning entry:

Roses are red,
Violets are blue,

Toms pretend to be Super Cat

But are really Pepe le Pew.

On behalf of the acatamy, thank you all for your fantastic entries. Connie, Alex, Rosey, Silver Fox, and Pat were popular human contenders, but this feline categorically captured the win. She'll receive a sweet package pending her dietary friskiness. (Is she allergic to gluten? Lactose intolerant? Vegan? Our investigative team is on it.)

Let's learn more about our feline-us victor who catapulted to #1.

Gender	FEMALE
Industry	Consulting
Occupation	Fabulous Feline, Occasional Guest Blogger, Internet Troll
Location	The Afterlife, Over the Rainbow Bridge
Introduction	To know, know, know me is to love, love, love me. And I do, yes I do. So should you.
Interests	Myself