God Bless The Internet*

*and the Gamma Phi Beta sorority.

For without those two things, I would be without some of my nearest and dearest.

On Sunday I ran The Cowton Half Marathon and my Madrid Marathon partner in crime Christy was there, along with my favorite Dallas runner, That Pink Girl.

I've been so blessed to meet so many wonderful people thanks to blogging (and I met my BFFFFFFF thanks to our sorority. God bless Gamma Phi). People who hold my hand while I cry, people who laugh with me when I need it, who smack reality into me, who support my ups and downs--people who are my lifeblood while I live 1,200 miles away from family and childhood friends.

Even though I'm super brave and will go to the theater by myself, going to the MOVIE theater is a whole different thing. Why, I've no idea. But, anywhoodle, last night, one of my wonderful internet turned real life friends TPG agreed to go see the Phantom of The Opera sequel, Love Never Dies with me.

I've been in love with this play since its inception in 2010 and I love the London cast more than words can say--I got the chance to see various members of that cast in Phantom 25 in London and they are just amazing. Their voices, their chemistry--swoon. I have maintained that the score to LND is the most hauntingly beautiful score that Andrew Lloyd Webber has written.

I wasn't into the Australian cast, which is what the production team decided to film--and? I retract all previous snarky comments about them. (although, London still involves my loves Ramin and Sierra, so, yeahhh)

They were brilliant! (and I mean, Aussies, obviously I would convert)

The actor who plays the Phantom, Ben Lewis, is a baritone, which is odd for that character as he's usually a tenor, but, he KILLED it. And it reminded me of the baritone I dated in high school who used to sing Music of The Night to me and we'd sing Seasons of Love from Rent together. Ohhh high school.

ANYWAYS.
Tell me this isn't Andrew Lloyd Webber's most beautiful song yet:

Hm. I kinda got off track here. Sorry.

Point is, I'm so grateful to my lovely internet friends--those I've met and now share a "real life" friendship with--and to those of you who comment, who tweet, who keep coming back to my little space of the interwebs, I appreciate you more than you know!

In a world where it can be hard to find your place, I'm grateful to the place I've found, and the wonderful people who've come into my life because of this.

God bless the internet!

And, well, chocolate.

xoxo