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In the Feb/Mar 2010 issue. Go Po Campo!

Holidays are always bittersweet, and this year is no exception. We've had some tears, but also some laughs. We think about how life changes, accept who we are and what God has given us, think about our loved ones we've lost but also had the honor of knowing, and we navigate the additional gifts and disappointments that life throws at us. It is hard, but also beautiful, and we are all in it together--we all just have to do the best we can.

We are heading off to Texas this afternoon for a few days to visit Fuzzy's family. I am looking forward to warmer weather and BBQ sausage.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Be good to yourselves this weekend.

This weekend I had a perfect weekend.

It was amazing. Perfect.

As we begin the holiday season, I've been doing a lot of thinking about happiness and life and where i am in my life this year as compared to the last several years. Five and four years ago, we were navigating what life was like fighting cancer. Three years ago was my first Thanksgiving as a married woman. Two years ago, we were saying goodbye to Dad. Last year, I had absolutely zero hope for anything good, and the only thing I felt was sadness.

Amazing how time and experiences change things, isn't it?

The difference between this year and last year is staggering. As I walked through the streets in my beautiful neighborhood this weekend, enjoying the beautiful warm fall, crunching through the leaves, looking into people's windows, petting cats on the street, and listening to the sounds of my community, I couldn't stop smiling about how happy I am. For the first time in what seems like a lifetime--and it honestly might even be for the first time in my lifetime--I feel like I am where I need to be. I am able to actually be myself, Erica Noelle Reid Gerdes, and I love that. I'm not fighting and struggling and working for or against something anymore. I am madly in love (like movie romance in love,) I love what I am doing creatively, I enjoy my job and love my work environment, I have amazing friends that inspire me and make me laugh and feel like I'm special, and my family is surprisingly well (I am more than happy to report that my mom is doing better and is slowly also becoming herself again.) I also love my down time and the time spent with others, and I know how to listen to my body and nourish my soul when I need to. I am also smart enough to know that any of this could end at any moment, so I am enjoying the moments as they come. And it feels great.

I thank God daily for the blessings He has given me, as well as the ability to love and to have hope and faith again.

Walking home from dinner at a neighborhood restaurant on Saturday night, I was by myself and marveling at the beauty in life, when a man exiting an apartment building told me that I had dropped something on the sidewalk. I stopped and saw that I was still carrying my hat, I looked at my purse, and turned to him and looked at the sidewalk and asked him what he had said that I dropped.

He replied, "Your smile."

I laughed all the way home.

On Sunday, I trekked to a different part of Brooklyn to go see my old friend and former improv coach Abby Sher. Abby lives on a beautiful street that is quintescential NY...lots of brownstones, lots of trees with autumn leaves--lovely. I hadn't seen Abby in a few years--not since we did Don't Spit at UCB over 3 years ago, and it was really lovely to spend a few hours with her and her adorable daughter Sonya.

The sweet and very wise Sonya.

Two beautiful ladies.

We walked around the neighborhood catching up about life and love and the past few years.

Koala Hat!

Here Abby is wearing her special "KOKO misses me TONS" shirt that my improv group KOKO made her after she moved back to NY from Chicago.

Abby just recently had her memoirs published, Amen, Amen, Amen, Memoir of a Girl Who Couldn't Stop Praying (Among Other Things). I just started it last night and it is wonderful, vibrant, and utterly heartbreaking. I can't put it down, yet I want to, cause it is hard to read about the pain and struggle that one of your loved ones has shouldered in her life. I highly recommend picking up a copy at your local bookstore.

When Erica and I get together, Magical Things happen. They always have. That's just how we are. You might even say that it is What Dreams Are Made Of. There is a lack of fear or restraint when we are together, and wonderful things just happen.

So Saturday morning comes, and we are out of coffee. And I really want eggs and bacon. So we throw on decent clothes and step out to run a few errands and get some groceries. After we buy a couple of pounds of Stumptown Coffee (ground for her, whole beans for me to take home,) we get back in the car to go to our next destination. "Wait," Erica says, "you need to come with me. We are about to do something really Brooklyn." I get out of the car. Erica: "We're going to buy bread from this store." Which store, you ask? Why, a store that sells gravestones. Yes, Gravestones. We walk in, and there are three men of varying ages, having a chat, and one jumps up and starts gushing over the two of us. "The modeling agency is across the street." Erica: "We'll have a baguette, please." Man: "That'll be 200 pennies--I'd be happy to count them with you if you want." When we left: "Try not to stop any traffic." All this in a gravestone storefront. Monuments. We bought bread from a monument store. You can read about it here and here. It was amazing. Truly truly amazing. And you know what? The bread was delicious.

We ran a few more errands, and then had to make a quick stop at the BP. It was jam-packed, and there were tents in the parking lot and music playing. We noticed a giant mascot being led by the hand by a gas station attendant. The mascot turned a corner, and we see it was an Eli Manning mascot in a NY Giants jersey. We found parking and decided that we needed to have our photo taken with him. Sadly, the Manning Mascot was going on break, and wouldn't come out (trust me, we asked.) We went back out to the parking lot to see what else was going on. There was a guy with a camera, and a guy in a Giants jersey signing autographs. We of course got in line.

Me: "Who is that?"
Photographer: "Stephen Baker, the Touchdown Maker."
Me and Erica then got really excited about him and decided who was going to stand on which side of him, etc.
Photographer: "Ok, you are next."
Me: "Yes! What's his name again?"
Photographer, matter of factly: "Stephen Baker, The Touchdown Maker."
(this cracked me up that we were so excited to get our picture taken with someone who we didn't know who he was, and I had to keep asking his name. I think I actually asked 3 times.)

We ran in on each side. He asked who wanted to hold the Vince Lombardi Trophy--we both did, of course. We took the photo, got some autographs (Erica complimented his handwriting) and then went on our merry way. Two days later, the photo was available online, and I think it is one of the best photos ever--we look like this might be one of the happiest moments in our lives. Check out that huge Superbowl Ring!

I realized afterwards that I was wearing my Saints tshirt that Fuzzy had just brought me back from New Orleans, after the week before's game when the Saints beat the Giants. Irony.

We ate our breakfast and Erica and Ariel introduced me to The Real Housewives of Atlanta, which I can't decide if this is a blessing or a curse. All I know is that you don't want to be Tardy for the Party.

That morning, Erica got a phone call from her friend Bill, who told us that he was bartending a hoedown on the 4th floor of a parking garage above an IHOP in downtown Brooklyn and that we needed to go. Heck yeah, we did! Funny that I had to go to NYC to get a little taste of the South.

There was so much great music.

And great food! Pulled pork sandwiches were being made out of the back of a truck.

Danny and Erica

Who doesn't love a hoedown?

Erica introduced me to some of her awesome friends, and as we were chatting with one of them, Erica pointed out a guy that she thought we used to hang out with in Jackson from when we all lived there 10-11 years ago. Normally, we would be too shy to approach a stranger to ask if we knew him, but since we were together, there was no fear. It was a happy reunion. We all caught up and had a great chat. Crazy how small the world really is.

Blurry Jay and Erica

See what I mean? Magical.

It's no secret that I have the world's most talented friends, and last week, I got to hang out with one of them! My friend Andrew plays/tours with Mike Doughty, and they were in town for 3 shows in Chicago last week. I saw them Friday night at the brand spanking new Lincoln Hall, the new music venue where the Three Penny Cinema used to be, owned and operated by the Schubas brothers.

The show was great. Here are some pics.

The stage before the show.

Andrew and Mike rocking out.

After the show, we went to the Golden Nugget for some milkshakes and giggles.

Me and Andrew doing our "picture faces."

Me and Andrew doing the other Erica's "picture face."

Chuck, Miriam, and Shannon

Chuck.

This past Sunday, our friends Johnny, Anne and Violet invited us out to Didier Farms, a pumpkin patch in a nearby suburb. Fuzzy and I have been trying to get to a pumpkin patch for years, but October is historically a hard month for us to do anything, so we've never been. We looked at our calendars, we had a free morning, so we got up super early and headed on over. It was so fun! Here are some pics from the day, almost all of which are by Fuzzy Gerdes.

Goats!

Anne's a sheep! I'm a horse!

Uh Oh, Fuzzy's in trouble.

Lots of pretty pumpkins!

There was a petting zoo, and you could feed the animals. I made some new friends!
The Ninja Llama (I didn't see him in there for a long time)

Sweet Donkey! Donkey Shoot!

I should take this moment to point out to all my non mid-western friends that yes, I am wearing my full winter down coat. This was this past Sunday. Yes, it's been in the low 40s here. Yes, I miss Southern Autumns.

HAYRIDE TIME! I'd never been on a hayride before--I think I rode in the back of a tractor pull one time at Warren Central, but otherwise, hayrides have been a thing of fantasy for me. I finally was able to live the dream!
Erica, how do you feel about hayrides?

Anne, how bout you?

Oh! Sorry I asked.

Johnny and Violet? How about you?

We drove down "Scarecrow Alley" on the hayride, and there were some popular Halloween favorites: Darth Vader, Michael Jackson, The Joker, Waldo, and...Edward Cullen?

After a tiring morning, we all had to take a big ole nap.

(But seriously, look at those precious piggy butts! So cute!)