Who Loves Ya

Brought to you by the people I know, love, and admire.

I know someone who has:

• swung from treetop to treetop in a Coasta Rican rain forest (G-Doc)
  
• dressed up as the Easter Bunny for a job (Grassmaster, Jen X)
  
• studied cooking at the Condon Bleu in Paris (Jen X)
  
• written a book of ghost stories (Senor Editor)
  
• helped direct a shelter for women who have no one else to turn to (El Queso Grande)
  
• sewed Muppet costumes for a living (Stage Coach)
  
• written a musical about lawyers (Dad)
  
• pretended to carry a severed head in a hat box (the Lotus)
  
• nursed a friend through cancer treatment (Sister-san)
  
• bought a shot for a rock star in a bar (the General)
  
• been trusted to pack other people's parachutes (Chef Jeff)
  
• learned to speak Icelandic (Loop)
  
• learned to speak Greek (Julie-la)
  
• almost joined the clergy (BuntCake)
  
• pioneered study in a brand-new branch of mathematics (MJM)
  
• received an organ transplant (the Bear)
  
• donated organs for transplant (Dad)
  
• organized a benefit concert for a gravely ill friend (LexiCan)
  
• volunteered at Ground Zero (Six)
  
• serenaded her favorite singers with one of their own songs (Aura)
  
• typed top-secret military documents inside a locked vault (Mother Media)
  
• taught aikido (Lightbringer)
  
• become a surgeon (Butch)
  
• chased burglars down the street while 9 months pregnant (TammyD)
  
• dedicated her life to art (the Kerner)
  
• cleaned rental cars for a living (Professor George)
  
• placed high in the Boston Marathon (BritWit)
  
• written obituaries for people not yet dead -- and then met some of them (Grassmaster)
  
• taken vows of silence (MJM)
  
• designed bus schedules (El Queso Grande)
  
• partied with Hell's Angels (Senor Editor)
  
• sold encyclopedias door to door (Mother Media)
  
• won a pan-Asian martial arts competition (Grandmaster Wai-lun Choi)
  
• run a shady character out of town (Dad)
  
• injured herself with a frozen turkey (the Kerner)
  
• made white noise an art form (Datura 1.0)
  
• moved to a new country for love (Sister Amy Sunshine)
  
• invented yo-yo tricks (Magic)
  
• contracted malaria in the Peace Corps on the other side of the world (Lisa-la)
  
• taught English to recent immigrants (Grassmaster)
  
• immersed herself in a foreign culture (Wild Rice)
  
• founded a design/fashion magazine (Wry'un)
  
• followed a dream to Jamaica and back (Sherlock)
  
• danced like Pee Wee Herman for an audience of 500 professional peers (Gail Force)
  

Hats off to these extraordinary people who have let me be part of their lives. This list only scratches the surface, of course. It's been a pleasure compiling it.

So tell me: Who/what should I add to this list?

Today around the world: February 16 is Independence Day in Lithuania.