(I didn't know where to put this as it has no merit beyond me wanting to say something when I am normally a very quiet fan of life)
Dear Amanda,
Thank you for being you. I have read the blogs & the tweets, the comments & the jibes, the love & the hate. Today I thought maybe I could say something to you, since you give us so much lovely to read. You are one of my favourite people I have never met. Not because you are famous or make pretty art or are terribly interesting, but because you have a remarkable nature that you take pride in & share with those who want to see it.
The whole Evelyn drama made me sad. That people can be so mean. I read the backstory & while parts are sad & parts are uncomfortable, other parts are lovely & good & the music is perfection with the twins light shining through it. Everyone has said their peace & their opinions & whatever other words tumbled from their lips & normally I stay quiet, but I just wanted to tell you I was proud of you, yet again, for weaving a story that does NOT have the happy-go-lucky fiction that people WANT the world to have. Brilliant stories, lives as they are sometimes called, are not perfect. We all have bones in our closets, some of us have skeletons & others have mass murders making more skeletons & possibly being a bit cannibalistic, but those should not define the creators (in the case of stories, the authors & in the case of people, who they are now & what they stand for) but instead show the depths & paths & amazing journeys they have taken.
This has gotten away from me, I'm a bit tired. So… I just wanted to say thank you. I do not have a lot in life, so I truly treasure the things that bring me joy. You are one of those things. Your thoughts & music, your ideas & art (your fiance is another of those things as I have lived in his books for YEARS… the fact that you two are like… melded is sometimes too much for my brain), your insane moments & your wine, your awesome wardrobe & the fact that I am fairly sure you won Good News Week for FOREVER with your muppets & ukelele… but mostly it's you.
So thank you. Thanks for letting me be a vocal fan today as well, because I rarely am, but you deserve it. I know you will let the people who spoke out against the Evelyn project bother you, because you're human, but I hope, at the end of the day, you smile & hold your arms wide & embrace the fact that each boo is backed by hundreds of cheers & the knowledge that the world loves you, even if sometimes it feels like it might be being kind of a bitch to you.
Take care, AFP. <3
(PS. Thanks for being a fellow Ampersand fan. For years, I thought it was just me. Weird girl with the GIANT ampersand tattoo that has to CONSTANTLY be explained… the little ampersand pieces of artwork that decorate my room [from hand drawn gifts to bizarre shop finds] & cause the questions, "Do you write music? Why so many of those piano cleff symbol things…?" *face palm* it's nice to know I am not alone. Plus, in the forums, I get to see HEAPS of other amperphiles. It warms the cold, cockles of my heart.
