This is a thank you– to a dear friend of mine on her 40th birthday.

I’ve been writing for about 10 years now; about ehh.. 5 or so of them publicly.  Frankly it took a while before I had the courage to open up to the world, and even then I was still trying to find my point of view and where I was going with it.  I’ve since realized that’s a silly endeavor as it constantly evolves as I grow older and experience different things.

But.  I started writing because of one person, and after 22 years of friendship (hahaha and some stories that are best left to the world of lore), I want to thank her.

Writing for me has become an outlet I cherish; it’s a big part of my life, a very important part of my life, and I wouldn’t have any of this if she hadn’t come up with the idea -and then of course badgered me to do it in her sweet and loving *cough cough* extroverted way- on a trip through Italy about 10 years ago.

When I started writing, my original private blog was entitled “The Ulcian Epicurean.”  Not sure anyone really knows this, but the name originated from a shirt this aforementioned friend was wearing, from the town we were staying in– Montepulciano.  The car we’d been traveling in had broken down and we were stuck there (oh poor us) for 5 days during repairs; it’s still one of my favorite memories.

This is when, over copious amounts of amazing wine, the writing idea emerged; we all sat around a table goofing off and trying to think of ridiculous names for this so-called theoretical blog.

Well.  My friend, in her new Montepulciano shirt, has always been… blessed… in the area the letters crossed the shirt, and because of the folds and creases said blessing created, only the letters “ulcian” were visible.

And hence, with our livers one step closer to a happy death, a blog was born.

It changed to Doodles, Delicacies, and Diatribes a few years later, and then finally to its home with Peel & Cleaver.  But regardless of the name, or the focus, it’s been an incredibly important part of my life for many years now.

So I want to thank you.  Truly, and whole-heartedly.

I wish I had better words than just thank you, because the gratitude I feel for the gift you have given me is so much deeper than I know words for.  I want you to know on this milestone birthday how much you’ve changed and added to my life; none of this would have been possible without you.

You’re truly awesome.

Happy Birthday lady.

PS- No pigeons in the pic, I promise 😉