An entire week ago Dawg gave me this:

I stuck it on my About page with the intention of getting back around to it and promptly forgot. Today when I was adding my 32nd Snack I noticed that I hadn’t actually properly linked the love yet, so I fixed that link.

And then I realized I was supposed to pass on the blogger love. (Bad Poppy!)

Rather than going through everyone’s blog to see if you already received this award and rather than caring if someone else loves you-and-therefore-I-can’t-love-you?!-p-effing-shaw, I’m just going to tell you who I love, but because I don’t follow rules they won’t all be bloggers.

1. Break Boy. I’ve known Break Boy since I was six. We had a few years between grade school and college where I dropped off the face of his planet, but once we saw each other that fateful night Freshman/First year we’ve been friendly inseparable since, even if we go long stretches of time not seeing each other.

2. Bdogg. I don’t know what I did to deserve her friendship, but she entered my life at a time when I was at a crossroads. She helped me through some very rough times, and has shared some very rough times of her own with me. She has welcomed me with open arms into her home despite never having been in my physical presence before the day we hugged in the airport terminal and I cannot wait to return that favor when she visits me. She is the kitties’ Auntie B and I am her kitties’ Auntie Poppy. We are sisters.

3. My mom. I am her image, 26 years younger. I have my faults, I have my quirks, and I have those because I am my mother’s daughter. I wouldn’t trade those for the world. She still hasn’t met the man I love and yet she is one of his biggest fans at Cereal Wednesday. Coolest mom on my planet.

4. My stepdad. Before his integration into My Family I did not have a positive male influence in my daily life. I was the product of a matriarchy, very strong willed and determined and unwilling to listen to a man tell me anything. That sounds great and feministy-empowering, right? Except that also meant I was unable to listen to fair criticism, right vs. wrong, the male perspective, if it came from the lips of a man. My stepfather’s stern but jovial parenting is what helped me flourish from spoiled, self entitled brat to kind, considerate, and responsible adult. I will always appreciate him for that. And, also, in my first venture at asking him for life advice about how men think he did a spectacular job at helping me to understand that sometimes sitting back and giving space is the best reaction to a situation.

5. My brother. He and I didn’t have the pleasure of growing up in the same household. He was the bad kid, I was the good kid. He was enough older so that we had nothing in common and always fought. And yet somehow he magically became the coolest person I knew when I was 13 and now I love him to tiny pieces and can’t imagine how my life would have been like without him in my peripheral vision.

6, 7, 8. My girls Allie, Ripley, and Georgia. I know they help me to stay strong and responsible on days when I want to give up. They need me, and being needed is truly a wonderful feeling 99% of the time. They know all my deepest thoughts, know all my imperfections, know my entire range of emotions, and yet they still cuddle with me and purr for me and greet me at the door and come lick my tears when I cry. It chokes me up to think about how much I love them, as it should.

9. Dawg. He is the most amazing man I’ve ever had the privilege of dating. He is himself, no excuses, love him or hate him. He does anything needed for a friend or family member, and often times even for complete strangers. He is kind-hearted to those who know him best, and appropriately merciless to the assholes of the world. I feel grateful for his presence in my life.

10. Me. I know we all have years of our lives where we hate ourselves. Some people always hate themselves. I’ve certainly gone through the yo-yo phases of thinking I am wonderful and lovable to that lowest of dark places where I can’t even understand why anybody thinks it’s a good idea that I’m hanging out on the planet with them. But, there is something inside of me that reminds me that “this too shall pass” and I get back to the side where I am proud of the person I have become. Today I am proud.