Best Memories EVER

So, exhausted from an intense 6 days of rehearsals in Montreal, I barely managed to arrive in one piece to my usual Tuesday night meeting with my teen group, Team 'Keeps It Real,' the other night. But I made it. And not that I would ever dream of not making it to my last Tuesday night with "the teens" before I leave for the summer, but boy oh boy, it was definitely worth it this week!

They had planned a "We're Going to Miss You Meghan" party for me. It was a TOTAL surprise. And I loved it. I loved EVERY. SINGLE. MINUTE...

Check it out: They brought a cake for me that said "We'll Miss You - Keep it Real!", and there was a colorful banner that said "We'll Miss You Meghan", AND there was a poster-sized card that they all signed for me!!!

I Heart Team Keeps It Real:

*LOVE*

Being ever so thankful, and loving this surprise party with all my heart, I glowingly told Mark that this night would now go down in my own personal history as one of THE Top Memories of My Life - for reals!

The other two Best Moments of My Life are about as equally self-centered, but at least I can admit that. The first 'Best Memory EVER' is the surprise party that my friends managed to throw for me (and again, actually surprise me with!) the summer before I left Vancouver to move to England for my first year of university. It was spectacular. I will never forget that glowing, bursting with love and joy and happiness feeling that I experienced when I walked in to my friend Brian's kitchen only to find almost all of my friends standing there yelling "SURPRISE!"

Spectacular. Truly.

And the other moment that ranks among my top three 'Best Memories EVER' would be the moment I took my bow after a Monday night show of my solo play at the 2006 Fringe Festival. You see, much to my surprise the house was PACKED that night, but I didn't realise until the curtain call who exactly was there. As I stood basking in the applause that night, looking out into the audience, I realised that there were groups of people dear to me from SO MANY different parts of my life. It was kind of like another party... Hmmm, is anyone else noticing a trend in my favorite memories here?

Well, among some of my other favorite memories are:

• The 'Fly by the Seat of Your Heart' (Thanksgiving 2004, I think)weekend of spontaneous and simple fun-having with my dear friends Alison and Gabe that inspired the matching tattoos that Ali and I got in 2005:
  

• That series of Saturdays in the Spring of 2006 when my friend Annie and I used to get up early to attend modern dance class only to then veg out on her couch and drink and smoke and watch season 1 of 'Project Runway' on DVD - those were good, good times!

• Winter Nights 2005, when Ali and I lived together and our friends John and Gabe made a habit of coming over on weeknights to eat take-out Thai food and drink red wine through red licorice straws while sitting by the fire and playing scrabble... And generally, just being silly.
  

• Searching for the elusive "cool area" in Paris, Winter 2000, with Damian, Tiina, Thea & Aaron. So long ago. Still one of the best days of my life.

• Being the only ones on the dance floor at the St Supice Pub in Montreal last week with my fellow cast & crew members. Ridiculous goodness.

• And most recently, playing with Henry and having good chats with my roomate Laura. In fact, just now I got drawn away from the computer to go outside and do some chalk drawing on the front path with H & L:
  

So yeah, I guess it's pretty clear that enjoying life with people I care about pretty much defines a great moment for me... And I'm oh-so-lucky to have so many of them!

Here's to many more to come!