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I blame myself, really. I ruined everything. But I’m hoping you will help bail me out. Hello, dear TBTL Friendos! It’s me, Andrew, writing to you on the very last day of the TBTL-a-Thon. And what a ‘Thon it’s been! Thank you to EVERYONE who stepped-up to support TBTL this week -- whether you’re someone who’s been donating for years and chose to continue your support, or someone who decided to donate for the very first time. Your participation in this year’s TBTL-a-Thon has been absolutely critical to keeping this podcast alive. (And if you haven’t donated yet, it’s not too late! We have some wonderful gifts waiting for you!) Speaking of gifts, Luke, Jon and I made a promise during this TBTL-a-Thon. We told you that everyone who donates at any level will receive a hand-made friendship bracelet crafted by us. Our plan was to spend this week hand-beading about 1,700 bracelets for our listeners. It was slow-going at first. After our first night of beading, the three of us had made a total of 71 bracelets, mostly thanks to Luke’s fast fingers and competitive spirit. By mid-week, we more than doubled our total. We now had about 200 bracelets between us, and we were feeling pretty good about ourselves. I planned on finishing the job myself the following night in my hotel room. All I had to do was make 1,500 more bracelets and we’d be good! I arrived back at my room at the Comfort Inn around 8pm that night with a big bag of bracelet-making materials under one arm and a Domino's pizza balanced on the other. I was ready to get to work. Each of these bracelets have a word or phrase on them, and I was responsible for the ones that spelled out “FRIENDO.” I started by pouring my colored beads into a pile, then carefully arranged the lettered beads in their proper order… F…R…I…E………. And that’s when I realized my fatal mistake. I didn’t have any “N” beads. I might never know where my bag of Ns went. Maybe they fell out of my backpack somewhere between Old State Route 99 and Three Rivers Drive. Maybe they got stuck between the cushions of Luke’s studio couch. Or maybe Jon stole them to teach me some sort of bizarre lesson that I don’t understand. All I know is, you can’t spell “friendo” without an N. So I did what any responsible podcaster would do in this situation: I swept all my beads into a paper bag, threw it in the corner, and spent the night eating pizza and watching Superman IV over the roar of my hotel room’s air conditioning unit. Not a bad night, all told. But we’re still barely an 1/8th of the way to our bracelet-making goal. So, dear listeners, that’s where you can help bail us out. We’re holding a bracelet-making party at my local Eagles club on July 28th. If you’re in the Seattle area and would like to spend a late Sunday afternoon/evening stringing together beads, let us know by signing-up here. More details will follow in the coming weeks, but this will be a low-key affair to get together with some Tens who are willing to help finish the job we (barely?) started. Space is limited, so please let us know if you plan to attend. And don’t worry -- I won’t be in charge of bringing the lettered beads this time! Thank you all again for such a wonderful, memorable week, and thank you for your ongoing support and generosity that keeps this community going. You are, as always, the literal best. SINCERELY,
Andrew
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