happy birthday to my fat friend

[falcongrrl]

There's a Hebrew word featured prominently in the song (of the same name) that we sing on Passover: dayeinu. I may have mentioned it before in LJ; I'm not sure.

Anyway, dayeinu, roughly translated, means, "that would have been enough."

So onceupon co-wrote a really cool book about fat acceptance and read from it in Urban Think, an independent bookstore in Orlando. Just hearing a really cool local author read aloud and then offer to sign my book...dayeinu.

But then, several of us hadn't had lunch, so we went to a great local Italian place and had some incredible pizza and talked for hours and hours. Dayeinu.

And then there were emails back and forth and a Fourth of July party and a couple of meetups at Seven Sisters Coffee...dayeinu.

And...onceupon likes my crazy kids. She'll meet my other friends. She'll go to Cuban restaurants all the way up in Sanford and back down to dive bars in Audubon Park and cheer and clap when my friend and I sing karaoke. She'll even get the rest of the bar to cheer too. (You doubt me? Ask beetiger. Or come with us next time. ;-) )

onceupon is fun and smart and creative and accomplished and on her way to being Internet Famous if not outright famous (like, on TV and stuff)...and is one of the most grounded and unpretentious people I know.

onceupon gives off an aura of this is who I am. But while in some people the unspoken statement might come off as defensive, or angry, or even plaintive...in onceupon it feels both joyful and inviting. It feels like, "Hey, you can be who you are too. Try it. It's kinda...fun."

It really is.

All those things would have been enough...but the story's not quite finished...because onceupon and I are really and truly on our way to being friends, I think, and that's not just dayeinu...

...it's pretty fucking awesome.

Happy 32nd. ♥

Comments

[beetiger.livejournal.com]

onceupon is indeed awesome. I really enjoyed hanging out with her. Happy birthday!

[monkeyman.livejournal.com]

:)

[illuviel.livejournal.com]

I want to live in a world where both the zaftig and the svelte and all between are loved and cherished and honored for both their inner and outer beauty.

So there, beautiful.

:>

[illuviel.livejournal.com]

Oh, and... had you read the dayeinu article in the latest UU World before writing this? Just wondering,because it was wonderfully synchronistic for me to have read your words here, then that poem, there.

[ladyperegrine.livejournal.com]

I had not read the poem, but it sounds really cool!

The word 'fat' here is used in its reclaimed sense, as something to be acknowledged rather than fear. I hope that came through. :-) I agree, all body types (size and differing abilities included) are beautiful.

[illuviel.livejournal.com]

I hope that came through. :-)

It did. :>

(And this is the online version of the article (http://www.uuworld.org/spirit/articles/145472.shtml).)