Dear Sauvignon Blanc, Dear Office Lounge, Dear Bloomington

Dear Sauvignon Blanc,

Thank you so much for this summer. I think we had a wonderful time together. I've enjoyed you morning, noon, and night. You are always there to listen, but you know when to tell me to be quiet. I enjoy you with fish, I enjoy you with chicken, with scallops (my favorite), I enjoy you at work, I enjoy you by the glass and even more by the bottle, I enjoy you with a Benadryl before bedtime, I enjoy you with friends. I enjoy your whole family: White Haven, Geyser Peak, Nobilo, Dancing Bull, and that nice Santa something (Ema?) that the nice people at Big Red picked out for me. I love your pale yellow-green color, I love the way you frost my wine glass, I love how you have virtually no calories, it's called drinking to your health, right? I love you so, so much more than your relation Chardonnay, and want everyone to know of your superiority. I love you when I cry and when I laugh, and the more I have of you, the more I want you still. I love you.

Dear Office Lounge, 

Thank you for karaoke last night. I had the most splendid time. Thank you for having "Chili All Year!" and "The Best wings in Town!" Thank you for goblet sized Long Islands and friendly wait staff and cold beer. Thank you for the closet-sized bathroom and the reusable towel dispenser. Thank you for never being too-too crowded. And always keeping my favorite table open. Thank you for your extensive karaoke collection, including some of my all-time hits "Hello, Dolly" "Talk to Me" "Landslide" "If You See Him, If You See Her" and "Good Bye, Earl!" Thank you for fat, middle-aged men who hit on my friends, but never on me. Thank you for no one hitting on me. Thank you Lisa. the clown-school graduate, and her denim mumu, and her spot on Gladys Knight. Thank you for being just down the road from Taco Bell and Steak 'N' Shake, two of my late-night favorites. Thank you that no one ever really watches me sing. You've really been just great. Thank you.

Dear Bloomington,

Thank you for the past 4 years. Thank you for sunny days, and gray days, and mountains of snow and rain every Tuesday. Thank you for traffic and out-of-state license plates. Thank you for how hard the word license is to spell. Thank you for Mother's Bear Pizza and China Buffet and Kilroy's Breadsticks and Thai food. Thank you for drag queens and frat boys and townies. Thank you for ten Starbucks locations in a three-mile radius. Thank you for parking tickets, and drinking tickets, and tickets to opera, dance, and theatre. Thank you for dorm drinking, and afternoon drinking, and Sunday drinking, and weekend drinking, and house parties, and bar crawls. Thank you for afternoon breakfast at Village Deli. Thank you for good friends, and good times, and goodtimesiu, and good grades. Thank you for being my home, and being my friend, and making me feel safe. Thank You Bloomington.