# 6 The Quinnipiac River

I am surprised by its effect on my mood every single time I look out of my windows.

It is my backyard...and I love it.

#5 A Broken Umbrella

This Collective of inspiring individuals who have reinforced for me my calling as an artist and this internal belief that things fall into place for some greater *divine* purpose.

They are the shapes, the makes, the mystics and the muses......and to quote Jose Rivera

"We speak in tongues while others speak in fortune cookies".

#4 My Mother

What can I say about mothers that hasn't already been said... She gave birth to me 30 years ago, and she remembers it like it was yesterday. I am a big event for her, but so are her other children.

She, however, is the ONLY mother I will ever have. There is something terrifying, and absolutely magical about that thought.

She is my only- and knows me sometimes when I don't know myself.

Oh- and I should mention- a total rock star to boot!

#3 Daphne

Yeah yeah, she's my dog- and without her I wouldn't be alive today.

Daphtastrophy came into my life when I was at one of the most depressed points I have ever faced in my life. She is a life-sized, free-willed Muppet that cannot be harmed by conventional means.

And I love every single ridicules thing about her.

Its too bad she can't read.

#2 My sisters

For all the face slapping, hair pulling, name calling and general ruckus caused from living in a house with three sisters, I am eternally blessed to call them just that.

They are always going to be in my foxhole-and not just because they have to- because they want to.

They make me proud to carry on the heritage of my family, proud that they share my face, my legs & my neurosis.

I love them without reconciliation and I am a better person for having them in my life.

#1 My Husband

I turned 30 on Saturday and decided that I would do a series of the 30 things...one a day.....of people/things/memories that I have shaped me. That I am grateful for.

So here is my first:

#1 My Husband

There is a spectacular way that he has about him that makes me want to be near him, even when he frustrates me and I would rather punch him in the face. I want to be closer than is physically possible to him. I love him without reason, or forfeit. I don't' have to be anything more or less. He makes me feel like I am just enough of something to not give up. And so I don't.

I remember meeting him, 1st kissing-him, falling in love with him and growing-up with him.

I can't wait to start a family with him.

I am so angry today. Nothing else.