Ladies & Gentlemen -

It's been a labor of love. Since September 19th, 2005, when I wrote the first installment of the "Losing You" series for the blog, this story has taken precedence in my life, whether as a remembrance of how far I've come, the first signal that I might actually have something to offer in terms of writing, and as something that I desperately felt I needed to complete and accomplish before I died. The past two years have been wrapped up in the work of it - of dreaming, crafting, writing, editing this small story of a small time in my life that somehow had a such a huge, epic effect on my life, then and now. Each small step started out with a desperate, keen hope and impatience to get it right and ended with a mini celebration of sorts. Because I finally did something solely for me. Because I finally did something that I always dreamed of doing, but never really fully expected of myself. Because I always really wanted to tell this story, even when I was living it. Because, like I said here, all of this had to be worth something. Because it was the first time when I felt like others really believed in my ability to do it, and I finally followed it up and showed them that I really could.

And now it's done. And now, for the first time in my life, I'm probably going to spend all night crying simply from happiness.

I present to you -

Holiday Chick