I'd like to thank...

I've been blogging with three fabulous women for almost two years and have been enjoying all the fun topics we come up with week after week. If you want to see what we've discussed in the past, check out our posts here.

This week, I got to choose the topic: Make your "Oscar" speech. Thank someone (can be as many people as you feel necessary) for something special that has happened in your life.

Before reading ahead, first see what everyone else had to say on this topic:
Froggie
Mom of Many
Moma Rock

I'm glad I got to choose the topic this week because it happens to fall on my nine-year wedding anniversary. Yesterday, I posted a special essay about how I met my husband. Last year, on our dating anniversary, I also listed some catalysts that allowed us to meet. Therefore, I'd like to thank the following people (in no particular order)....

*Mike, our matchmaker, for listening to me say, to no one in particular, that I had to bowl in the morning, and putting two and two together. All catalysts could have led up to that moment, but it was all on him to do the matching in the end.

*Froggie, for connecting me with the right circle of friends to make this moment possible. For making me go out with her on Thankgiving night to meet up with one of these friends, which led me to meet NJ boy. Also, for getting herself kicked out of the bar even though she didn't do the things the bouncer accused her of. Gotta love a rebel! Also, for the beautiful toast she made at our wedding and for being a special part of that day.

*NJ Boy (Dave) for coming to town the particular weekend that I had to pre-bowl and inviting Mike to join us.

*"Jack" for hosting a Super Bowl party that caused me to pre-bowl that morning.

*Scott, for getting me back into bowling to begin with.

*Lauri, Jenny and Kris for being a great bowling team. If we didn't have this team, I wouldn't have had a reason to bowl that next morning at all.

*My husband, for going to the same school as NJ Boy and Mike, which led to us eventually meeting. Also for finding a job in the Chicago area (right down the street from where I was working at the time) and then deciding to live in the suburbs (five minutes from where I was living). And for not being a cliche by asking to meet for coffee....instead asking to meet for hot cocoa!

*My husband's ex-girlfriend, for being a "Debbie Downer" and not having enough interest in growing with Judaism, which caused him to break up with her in time for our meeting to be possible. She also motivated him to do Weight Watchers (even though she gave up), which allows him to stay healthy. He hadn't lost all the weight by the time we met, so I obviously wasn't superficial about it. :)

There are others I also want to thank, like my mother-in-law for bringing my husband into the world in the first place, but really, she took him to the chuppah. (Meaning, she raised him to be a nice Jewish boy with whom I wanted to have a family.) I could also thank my parents for paying for braces and day camp, allowing me to meet Froggie, who introduced me to the people that made all the Jewish Geography fit into place. And I could thank them for allowing me to go to Israel when I did because that trip had a lot to do with the person I became right before I met my husband.