the moment for which we've all been waiting

I got an email earlier today--one that I have been anticipating for 357 days.  I wanted to share the exciting news it brought first with you faithful, imaginary readers as you've been with me all this time, waiting patiently, offering encouragement, and keeping this dream alive.  The email was everything that I had imagined it could be.  Funny, emotional, full of hope . . . funny.  I always knew it would be funny.  I'll admit that I opened it with a fair amount of skepticism.  It couldn't be what it appeared, but as I read, I couldn't control my giddiness, that hiccup of amazed laughter.  It was a perfect moment, but I'm glad no one was around to witness me dorking out live.

I'm explaining this badly, aren't I?  Pardon my lack of coherence.  I expect I'll be flustered by this for a while yet.  The specific contents of the email are too special, too private to share here, even with my loyal blog friends, but here's what I will tell you.  The email was from him.  FHDM, the soulmate himself.  I've given up on being surprised by the hows and whys of people finding my writings here and responding to them after last year's HGTV nod, but I'm still amazed that the drivel infrequently poured out here caught the notice of FHDM.  And maybe he was just being nice, but he's kind of a fan--enough of a fan that he'd like to meet.  Yes, you read that correctly.  This is how our story begins--and you were here to see it happen.  I'm nervous and scared and excited and beside myself.

Only today could a post like this be possible.