Hi all,
In
two weeks I'll be sending JABB 300!!! Because I want to
devote
more time to that, this one's pretty short but I hope ya enjoy
it. I've decided to make "Dear Annie Dru" a bit more
like a real
advice column. As always, she'll be answering some
pretty goofy
questions! But I'm also adding in more serious,
hopefully
touching ones. If any of you ever want to submit
questions,
please do!
Just an explanatory note for the last two questions and
answers: On May
13th we celebrate the Commemoration
of the
Murder Trial that Wasn't (then Was) in honor of a rumored TBAA
episode
that never came to be... It was supposed to have Andrew
falsely
accused of murder and I think we can all agree Mr. Dye woulda
done an
excellent job with an impassioned plea of innocence and a jail
yard
revelation. Too bad it never happened... except for the
Dyelanders it did. And because they actually went
through that
rather traumatic event with Andrew, they do NOT celebrate the
Commemoration but it
is, nonetheless, sometimes on their minds. Hence, Annie
Dru winds
up addressing some letters relating to Andrew's incarceration
five
years back. "History" lesson over. :-)
God
bless,
Jenni
PS- Happy Mother's Day to any moms among us!
And
now... Dyeland's resident advice and etiquette columnist
returns to lend aid to swoony Dyelanders, slightly more sane
Dyelanders, and the angel dudes who love them (in a friend
way, natch).
Dear
Annie Dru,
My
cousin is getting married. I've been invited along with
my
'plus one.' I'd like to ask Andrew and I'm sure he'd go
but then
I know my aunts will tease me about what the relationship
is.
What should I say since, obviously, I can't tell them the full
truth? And even if I could tell, I doubt Andrew would
want to
deflect attention from the happy couple due to his...
angelness.
If I say he's just a friend, I'm pretty sure they won't
believe
me. Please help!
Signed,
Not
the AOD's Date
Dear
Not the AOD's Date:
Go
to the wedding and have fun! Bring back some mints for
yours
truly, please. Ignore the idle gossip, answer the prying
questions diplomatically. I can guarantee Andrew's far
less hung
up about it than you are. And he's a big boy. If
one of
your gossip hound aunts makes a pointed remark, I trust him to
counter
in a respectful manner. You should, too. But do
try to keep
him away from the
garter toss. There's nothing to be gained by his
involvement in
that rather creepy tradition. And you might want to stay
out of
the bouquet toss. Not because it's creepy but because
those
things can get violent! I trust Andrew's looking forward
to the
evening as a night off. I can guarantee he doesn't want
to return
to Dyeland with the news of your unfortunate demise upon being
caught
at the bottom of a pile of women scrambling for a bundle of
roses.
Enjoy
the wedding!
Annie
Dru
PS-
Take photos of our boy.
Dear
Annie Dru,
I thought about writing the Angel of Angels about this but I
think a
Dyelander's perspective might be better. As an angel, I
know I
need to always tell the truth. But that doesn't mean I
need to
tell *all* of the truth *all* of the time. And I know,
now, that
when something's hurting me, I need to talk about that with my
friends. But when I return from assignments, sometimes
they ask
me how they went and I don't want to subject them to several
stories of
difficult cases. They deserve to be happy and the
endless supply of cable and internet news reporting gives them
enough
to be concerned
about. How do I know when I should open up and when I
should
redirect the conversation to protect them?
Your friend,
Who am I kidding? You know who this is. 0:-)
Dear Andrew,
Yes, I know who you
are.
:-) And now some things you need
to know:
1. Yes, everyone
expects you to
talk to them when you're
troubled. Because that's much healthier than holding
it all
inside and listening is something good friends should
do. You
listen to them, they want to return the favor.
2. But no one expects
your life
to be an open book. If you
had a difficult assignment but have dealt with your
emotions, I see no
reason you need to dredge it all back up. A simple "It
was
difficult but being back here I'm already feeling much
better!
Hey, you want to go for a walk? It's beautiful!" will
suffice.
3. Their hearing about
your
cases is in some ways parallel to
your working them. You've said before that the
positive
assignments help you cope with the tragic ones.
Hearing about
your positive assignments, similarly, will help them cope
with hearing
about the tragic ones. I highly doubt you intend to go
off on a
litany of trauma while completely ignoring all the joyful
reunions. You're generally pretty good
about finding a balance with things.
Bottom line: They love you,
let them
show it. But they also
respect you because you're an intelligent guy. Trust yourself.
Lovingly,
Annie Dru
PS- On a semi-related note,
maybe
don't tell your friends specifics on
where you're headed... especially if the place's name is in
a
song. I'm not sure you realized this but when you had
that
tutoring assignment in Georgia... those of us left behind
were treated
to a spontaneous, amateur performance of "Midnight Train to
Georgia"...
repeatedly.
Now,
dear readers, I know we obliterated the Commemoration of the
Murder Trial that Wasn't (then Was) from our calendars some
time
ago.
Unfortunately, I don't think any of us have been able to erase
the
actual murder trial from our minds. With the fifth
anniversary of
the trial approaching, I can tell it's on at least two of my
readers'
minds so I'd like to share the following:
Dear Annie Dru,
I'm a total
planner! So
I've been trying to put together an
emergency kit in case Andrew is ever jailed like he was back
in
2005. Cause that was awful and if it ever happens
again, I vote
we spring him out! I don't want to sit through another
trial and
see all those people look hatefully at him. So here's
what I have
and I hope you'll tell me what else I'll need:
-Sleeping pills to
knock out
any guards
-A large Rita
Hayworth poster
to block the hole we'll be digging into
Andrew's cell
-Shovels
-Wheel barrows to
haul dirt
-Band-aids and gloves
cause
our hands are gonna be a total mess with
all that digging
-Energy bars
-Coffee
-Change of clothes
for Andrew
cause orange is so not his color and
jumpsuits just don't flatter his manly figure
-Orange juice and
ginger ale
and food since he's probably gonna be
super hungry for non-institutional food
-Personal appearance
fee for
Morgan Freeman so he can stand around
saying inspirational stuff about freedom and confinement and
the human
(and angelic) spirit
What am I missing?
Cautiously,
Be Prepared
Dear
Be
Prepared:
Honey, you're missing your
sanity. Get a grip. And any
guard who sees a Rita Hayworth pin-up in a post-Shawshank
Redemption world
is going to be suspicious. The things that happen to
Andrew
happen for a reason... and that reason is NOT so you and
your friends
can dig tunnels and subvert the law. Plus, I highly
doubt God
would see fit to jail Andrew twice in 5 years' time.
Relax.
Spend some time with Andrew. Enjoy his company *now*
and don't
keep fretting about what might but probably won't happen to
him
tomorrow.
Peacefully,
Annie
Dru
Dear
Annie Dru,
I
wish I had some goofy etiquette fiasco to write about this
time but
this is bigger than any of that. With the Commemoration
approaching (why, oh God why, can't we just blot that out of
our
minds like we did from our calendars???), I've been struggling
with
some worries I have. I
feel a little guilty about them because I know the angels are
all "Fear
not!" and everything but... Only five years ago Andrew
was
arrested, a year and a half later he had his...
problems. Then
came 2009... The year started with the heartbreaking
case in
Missouri and came to an end with Andrew living on the streets
and being
targeted by those horrible boys. Some nights I have
dreams about
more terrible, crushing things happening to him. Or that
he goes
off on an assignment and we never hear from him again and
spend the
rest of our lives... wondering. How can I get past
this? I
don't want to worry this much. I don't want to have
nightmares. Please help me.
Desperately,
Fearful
in Asteriana
Dearest
Fearful,
I'm
afraid you have the opposite problem of the previous letter
writer. You've kept too close of a grip on everything
that's
happened. Andrew's time in jail, his drawing away from
us, Dawn's
death, his time being homeless... those times hurt us
all. No one
expects you to flip a switch and forget about them all or
never think
of those moments with sadness or concern. But,
sweetheart, your
recitation of Andrew's recent history leaves a lot out.
Allow me
to fill in some of the blanks. In no particular order...
Andrew
reconnected with an old friend, Eli. Andrew was
surrounded by
loving friends during and after some really difficult
cases.
Andrew built a tree house for the Tunnel kids. Andrew
got dressed
up in a truly hideous red glitter coat and delighted us all
this past
Valentine's. Andrew finally got a dog. Andrew,
Adam, and
Henry got a spin-off band: The Immortals, thanks to Mick and
Nigel. Andrew has got to see time and again just how
much and how
unshakably his friends love him. And in every one of
those
moments, both the ones you recalled and the ones I did, he has
been
surrounded by the Father's love. I can't promise you
that there
won't be more difficult moments to come. But I can
promise you
this: he will not disappear. As he says so often
himself: you're
stuck with him! So take a few deep breaths, thank God
for His
love and the life we all have here, and sleep
peacefully.
Trustingly,
Annie
Dru
JABB
TOC
JABB
300
(Photo Credits: The
photographs used on this page are from "Touched by an Angel"
and owned
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Productions.
They are not being used to seek profit.)