Dear Laura,
At times like these I
would normally point to a great character from literature or film, encouraging
you to draw inspiration from their gutsy actions - from the way they struggled
against the odds to find success.
If you were going to
New York we would go for Felicity, London we would have the whole range of Jane
Austen characters to draw on and of course Canada would place us firmly in Anne
of Green Gables territory. But Thailand … the only pop culture references I can
think of are Bangkok Hilton, Brokedown Palace and The Beach – perhaps we should
avoid taking lessons from any of these films?!?!
I’ve decided that the
lack of characters to draw inspiration from as you embark on your journey is a
good thing … why? Because it means you – yes YOU –
will be the pioneer. In years to come people will be looking back to your story
and say, "I want to go to Chiang Mai and walk in the footsteps of Laura Free".
That is the kind of
potential I think you have. Laura have you ever thought that you could become a
cultural icon? Because I think that is a totally achievable dream for you.
At your
going-away-party I heard you say to a friend that what you wanted while your
away is a “taste of home”. That, my friend, is what Dear Laura is intended to
be.
Lauren and I will send
you virtual letters because, lets face it, who can be bothered using pen and
paper, an envelope, a stamp and a post box anymore. In these letters we will
endeavour to tell you charming stories of life in Australia, hilarious work
anecdotes, chance encounters with handsome men and details of great dinners at
new pop-up bars.
Note that I said we
would endeavour to do these things. It is likely, however, that I will be
writing to you about my nights spent at home eating canned soup, watching
reruns of the O.C and going to bed at 9pm.
Yep - this will be a must-read!!
Lauren may have some
better stories. I mean she does live in Melbourne. Lots of good stuff happens
in Melbourne - that is where we came up with the idea for this fabulous blog
after all.
We haven’t talked too
much about the specifics. Lauren – do we want Laura to write back? Do we want
her to comment? How should this work? Mmmm ... what do you think Laura?
Well enough from me
today. We have a whole year of blog posts to write so I can’t waste all my
thoughts about your adventure in the first entry – except to say this:
YOUR ARE AWESOME – I
am crazy proud of you and love that you are the kind of person who doesn’t sit
back and talk about all the awesome things she wants to do with her life. I
love that you are the kind of person that just goes out there and does it. I'm pretty lucky to have a friend like you.
Love you lots and lots
and lots,
Claire
No comments:
Post a Comment