oprah

A few days ago, great guy wanted to watch Oprah.  It was, like, 11pm or something and he saw in the TV guide that Oprah was coming on.  He switched the channel, and said, “Ist das Oprah?” He had never seen her before.  Not a bad thing.  He had heard me talk about her, because surprisingly, she’s on in Deutschland in the afternoons at 2pm, just like back in Canada.  Unfortunately, this episode was, yet again, the one where Oprah interviews Janet Jackson, 9 months after Michael died.  I have tuned in to Oprah here about 4 times and 3 of those were this same episode. 

We watched for a few minutes, because he wanted to, and something came up about age.  Oprah was babbling about how great it is to get older, that with every decade she knows herself better and feels more confident and is less scared about relationships and her role in them, and I looked at great guy and said, “That is such crap.”  I continued by saying that I am much more scared as I get older because I know the bad the things which can happen.   Then I paused and said, “Or maybe I’m less scared now because I know that I can survive the bad things if they happen.”  And then, I started to laugh like I have not laughed for a long time.  Great guy, with a cigarette hanging from his mouth, stared at me like I was a lunatic.  Granted.  Oh my, I could not stop laughing.  One thing I know for sure, I am either less scared of loving someone, now, or more scared!  So funny.

I preceded to call one of my closest friends who understands my humour.  Her and I laugh together better than anyone.  We are the most hilarious people….but, unfortunately, only to each other.  We used to try to bring others into our laughter experiences but no one ever thought we were funny, just nuts.  Their loss.  Unfortunately, because of the time difference, she was at work and so I could only leave a very long message explaining how funny (and nuts) I think I am. 

This is the same friend who sent me a “Top 10 (well, actually like 14)” list of all the reasons she hates why I am now in Germany.  It was the best list ever.  Within the list, she mentions, "because you're gone" about 10 times - how amazing is that?  But, my favorite reason is #2:

2. When I feel something scratchy at my waist all day and finally check it out and realize that I have my leggings on backwards and the tag is itchy as hell, I cannot text you....because you have no cell phone!!!

and, #4 is awesome too:



4. I actually have no friends.  Really.  Ok, my husband is wonderful, but he works all the time, and he thinks my sense of humour is, well, kind of stupid.  I think it's quite brilliant.  This causes tension.  Damn.  You laugh at my jokes, I laugh at yours.  We are brilliant together.

ok, and #14 is super great:



14. I am so so so incredibly happy for you, my friend.  You are not here.  But you are somewhere that holds love, life, passion, possibilities.  I am so happy for you!

I can live without repeat episodes of german Oprah, but not without my wonderful friends, old and new, English and German.  Thank you, my dear friend(s).  Even though some of you I see often, and some not for a while now, you make me feel loved and happy; I am lovingly and happily living my adventure here.