Day 9 – Someone you wish you could meet.

Day 1 — Your best friend (Emily)
Day 2 — Your vices (Starbucks, etc)
Day 3 — Your parents (Linda & Jerry)
Day 4 — Your siblings (Emily, Graham & Lauren)
Day 5 – Your Dreams (Sing us a song…)
Day 6 — Someone that inspires you (Ernie Halter)
Day 7 — Your job (nothing)
Day 8 — Your favorite internet friend that you’ve never met (Krystin Behannon)

Day 9 — Someone you wish you could meet

So glad I resisted the temptation to start writing this in my zombie state at 3:30 am. It would have been overly sentimental, embarrassing and highly regretted. I’m sitting at Savona right now, enjoying an iced caramel latte and trying to organize a list of things to get done today, since Monday was unproductive and yesterday was spent at the beach. Thinking about who I’d like to meet, I realized how ironic it is to have this prompt come immediately after the prompt about my favorite internet friend I’ve never met, because obviously my answer is Krystin. I’m assuming there’s an unspoken rule that you cannot write about the same thing twice, and even if that’s not a rule then surely there’s an implied rule about writing about the same thing two days in a row.

On to someone I wish I could meet. Someone I have been actively trying to meet.

Mr. Donald Miller, writer extraordinaire.

Don Miller wrote Blue Like Jazz, a book that is pretty good. He also wrote A Million Miles in A Thousand Years, a book that is mindblowingly great (and my personal fave).

At the urging of my friend Sharon, I read Blue Like Jazz a few years ago. I was laying on Dave’s floor in Los Angeles and listening to Jon-Marc make lunch when I finished the book. I closed it, looked at the cover and thought “There was nothing new in that book, it’s all things I’ve considered before.” Then I realized that was the beauty of it. Donald Miller takes thoughts many of us have thought, feelings we have felt, and says them.

I became a Donald Miller fan. Earlier this year I recommitted my affection towards him when Gretchen sent me a copy of A Million Miles. When I finished that book, I was sitting in a Salvation Army sanctuary listening to Laura teach piano lessons. Because the book was broken into much smaller sections than chapters, I got out of the habit of reading the titles on each new section. Suddenly I turned a page and there was no more writing. I quickly flipped back and realized sadly that I’d just finished reading “Afterword.”

It was this book that challenged me to take leaps of faith and to live a full life. If Don Miller can do it, then surely I can too. Don’s writing reminds me of a description John Mayer once gave for Coldplay songs. Mayer said that Coldplay songs are great because they’re so easy to put yourself into. When I was reading his newest book, I felt so related to.

That’s a lot of rambling about Donald Miller. Let’s move on to the more pressing issue: meeting Donald Miller.

He lives in Portland, Oregon. Portland is right across the river from me. In fact, from where I am sitting in Savona I can see some hills that are in Portland. Point to be made: He lives close to me. Every time I am in Portland I look for Donald Miller. In restaurants I walk past, riding a bike down the street, standing on top of a building, getting put into a cop car.. I check everyone to see if they’re Donald Miller. They never are.

Luckily though, Twitter highly increases my chances. I have been following him on Twitter for awhile; his tweets are sent to my phone, and I never turn off notifications. Just yesterday I was telling Travis about this, and he pointed out that Don will say when he’s at Powell’s or various places around PDX. Which is true, but I am never in a place to see him. For example, he will be very specific about his location, but I will be in Los Angeles. Or even worse. EVEN WORSE. Once, I did Mocha Club for the Ten out of Tenn tour. Donald Miller was on a book tour. I got a Twitter notification from Donald Miller saying that if he was in Portland, he would have been at the TOT tour. Where I was.

Here’s the worst though. The absolute worst. Once, I did Mocha Club at the Doug Fir for Matt Wertz. I walked in and had to wait for a few minutes, and I saw Matt having dinner at a table nearby. I stood there and contemplated saying hello to him and introducing myself, but eventually decided against it. Imagine my frustration when, that evening, I read Don’s blog entry about how he wasn’t able to get into the show due to an expired license, but did have dinner with Matt Wertz. He was at the table. If I’d gone over………. I probably would have cried.

One day I will meet Donald Miller. and I will make myself look so foolish and stupid, but it will be the happiest day of my life.

Moving to Southern California highly reduces my chances of a Twitter-powered encounter, though. Sigh.

Day 10 — Someone you don’t talk to as much as you’d like to
Day 11 — A deceased person you wish you could talk to
Day 12 — Your dream vacation
Day 13 — Something you’re looking forward to
Day 14 — Someone you’ve drifted away from
Day 15 — The person you miss the most
Day 16 — Someone that’s not in your state/country
Day 17 — The place you wish you were from
Day 18 — The person that you wish you could be
Day 19 — Something that makes you different
Day 20 — Your favorite television shows
Day 21 — Someone you judged by their first impression
Day 22 — Your pet peeves
Day 23 — The last person you kissed
Day 24 — The person that gave you your favorite memory
Day 25 — A life changing moment
Day 26 — The last person you made a pinky promise to
Day 27 — The thing you most enjoy doing
Day 28 — Someone that changed your life
Day 29 — Your talent
Day 30 — Your reflection in the mirror