We can fly off into the sunset together, A rusty old American dream.

Phillips,

Today three of my favorite things came together in a wonderful way.

The three things:

1. Anderson Cooper
2. A good friend
3. Mail

The Necessary Info:

You know about my fondness for hot news anchors. Remember that night during our senior year when I was wasting hours online trying to make you understand how hot Peter Jennings was?


Hot, right?

That was the night I discovered that I was not alone in my admiration (and fantasies) of the smart and beautiful men who often deliver the news, and that fellow admirers had given them a name: Infohunks. While no one can replace Peter, I have elevated a few other infohunks to special status, and at the top is Anderson Cooper. My mom sent me his book as a distraction last year, and it worked in small increments, as I just opened to the center where the color photos were and let my imagination take over. I did read the rest of the book, which was interesting and a quick read, but the best part was my vision of walking with him on a Kenyan beach. Why Kenyan, you ask? Because we will meet in Kenya while I am there doing research or development work, and he’ll be there covering a story, or recovering from another story elsewhere (he used Nairobi as his home base while doing freelance work in Somalia after college- see, I did read the book!) and we will get to know each other while spending some quiet time outside of the big city.

Now, this affection for Anderson is something I shared with a work colleague while in China. That colleague became a friend and I think was quite amused with the whole thing, almost as amused as when I shared my love of Yao Ming (who, by the way, was on giant posters for health care in the tunnels of the Beijing metro system, mmm good, a glimpse at him every time I took the train!). The obsession with the Yao Ming Visa commercial is a discussion for another time. Back to the topic- my friend grew up in New York City and went to school with Anderson Cooper!

So, you also know about my penchant for sending and receiving mail. I’m talking about real mail- not e-mail, not credit card offers, not free address labels from non-profits (I feel bad about using them if I don’t actually give money to the charity, but they do come in handy for paying bills!). Real mail addressed by hand- it’s like a present you are not expecting!

The Union:

In the mail today I received a letter from that good friend. I opened the large envelope to discover photocopies of my friend’s elementary school yearbook with pictures of Anderson Cooper and his brother Carter. Anderson looks the same except that his dark (probably brown, but it is a black and white picture) hair has now changed to that crowd favorite “gunmetal grey.” I love getting mail and I love that my friend thought of me and I love Anderson Cooper, so getting a photo of the young Anderson in the mail was fantastic!!! I won’t share the picture of Anderson circa sixth grade because, you know, some things are special and you want to keep them private, but here are a few classic shots for you to feast on:





And a little something to help you understand where I’m coming from- Anderson Cooper’s 360 Degrees of Hotness

I just mailed a card to your mom, sans Anderson, to spread the joy of receiving mail and “pay it forward.” Plus your mom made me strawberry jam for Christmas and I’m way behind on my thank you notes.

Side note, I just noticed the comments on my last post. I had stopped checking for them because you were usually the person leaving the comments, but Marion and Phil hooked me up! As you and Rich would say, “they’re good people.” I didn’t even know Phil was reading this. Hi Phil!