You are my friend, you are special.
You are my friend, you’re special to me.
You are the only one like you.
Like you, my friend, I like you.
You Are Special, Fred Rogers, 1928-2003
thank you, mr. rogers.
thank you for teaching little me that people are good, i can stop when i want, i can do it if i try, and i can never go down the drain. thank you for the trolley, the speedy delivery message service, for king friday xiii, daniel striped tiger and bob dog. thank you for taking off your tie and putting on a cardigan, taking off your shiny shoes with a toss from one hand to the other and putting on a pair of simple sneakers, because that let me know you could come down to my level, that you weren’t going to be talking down from high adulthood.
and thank you most of all for being such a remarkably positive influence in my small life that your lessons still resonate in my adult life so many years later. i thank you for being my neighbor. (and i am not the only one.)
