lionkingcmsl | A post of thanks

This is a rather large, rambling, post, so please bear with me.

This post is to thank most of those people who have made a postive impact in my life.

To start, I want to thank my family.

My parents have instilled in their three sons a few things that are missing from a large percentage of the world today. They are: acceptance, tolerance, open mindedeness, morals and value of the human life. I feel the lack of these things has led to most of the problems in the world today. My parents and my brothers accept me for who I am, as I accept them for what they are.
My parents never have tried to live their dreams through their sons. While they may have, and still do, wish I made different choices in my life's path, they accept I chose what I have and are supportive in those choices. They never said, "You will become a (insert profession here)!" What they have said is, "We wish you made some better choices, but your life is your own."

Similary I have never forced my wants on my parents. I have heard horror stories of those parents who children have almost forced them from moving to another state. The commenyts were like, "If you move there who will look out for you?" or "You can't move! You can't just abandon us!"
When my parents said they were moving to Florida what did my brothers and I say? "Good! It gives a reason to visit there more often. Here, we'll help you pack." Of course it was said in fun, but in fact my one brother and I did help them pack (my other bro lives in GA).

So for those values my parents instilled in me, and my bros, and the acceptance my family has shown me, a very heartfelt thanks.

I had very small circle of friends while growing up. They helped me through the rough times,and I still consider them friends. the fact was I still felt like I was different and an "outsider". To those friends I say thanks for being there when I needed you.

I also have made some close friends during my life, some of which are still close to me. They also have helped me through the rough times. These friends range from former employers to police chiefs. From people who were making less than me to multi-millionares. These people will remain close to me in my heart, for without some of them I wouldn't be alive today. To you, thank you.

This brings me to the internet.

One of my closest friends had wanted a computer. His name is Tony Macrie. Some of you may recoginize the name as the owner of the railroad I work for. I have to thank him for many things, not the least of which is my being able to realize my life long dream of becoming a train enginer. ;=3
Through him I have more knowledge anbout the workings of a railroad and its component parts than I ever thought possible. I never dreamnt that I would be doing the jobs I'm doing now. Bridge Supervisor/Operator? Chief Mech. Officer? etc. No way in a million years did I dream I would be doing that.
Tony, as always, my ever present cap is off to you.

Tony wanted to go on the internet. The one thing you have to realize about Tony is that if it is complicated in any way, he gets lost. :=3
Well, I had bought a modem, but when I found out who it was for, I said, "No way am I going to allow you to wreak havoc on the 'net. Learn basic computers first, then we'll see."

Up to this point I had no interest in the 'net. I knew it was there, but had no burning desire to go on-line.

To make a long story short, I went on-line and finally found web based comics and I got hooked.

This is where I have to thank the next person. While browsing through the comics I stumbled across The Suburban Jungle drawn by the ever talented, and all around nice guy, John

the_gneech Robey.
I started an e-mail correspondence with him. We found that we had some, no, a lot of, similarities. This was in Nov. of '99.
At the time he was going by the handle of "Leonard" in the a.l.f. newsgroup. He kept "twisting my tail" to get me to join, as he saw that it was where I belonged. John, I know you keep telling me to "Stop already", but I can't thank you enough for bugging me enough so that I did join. :=3

I went to a.l.f. and saw what people, furs, were posting. Up to this point I had no idea what a "fur" was, outside of the hair on an animal. That first view changed my life for the better. I went, "Cool! I'm not the only one." Here were beings that felt the way I did and my life was mostly complete. One of the final pieces snapped into place. I then knew what it was with me and lions. Lion was my "spirit guide" or "totem".

It was through a.l.f. that I met people/furs that would later make a big impact in my life.

After being "hounded" I joined "Hudson Fur", a mailing list based in the NYC area. I went to my first furmeet in March of '00. On the train trip up I was nervous. What was it going to be like? Would they take kindly to a new comer, especially one who was only a "fur" for about a month? Would it be cliquish and me only tolerated?

My fears were laid to rest when two furs met me at Penn Sta. New York. Their names are Kamau and Smrgol. :=3
These two have become two of my closest FRIENDS. They allayed any fears I had and made feel as if I was a long lost brother. To them, and all the furs at that first meet, I say thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Also the close FRIENDS I have made thorugh a.l.f.; Camstone Fox, Smirk de Catt, Nebulous, Nikas,

skipai,

mooncat (whom I was the first "real life" fur she ever met :=3 ), Painless, Skytech and all those others. To you, I say thanks for being there when I needed a paw. You have lent me yours without hestiation, whether I wanted it or not. For that I can never fully repay you. I am always in you debt.

Finally to all those other furs, who on the whole are some of the modst accepting and friendly beings around; to those members of the SJ forum, who are to numerous to name; the MZDM fora, especially

ncdtv (Karol Luis) and

galish; and those others whereever I have met you, I thank you for being part of this lion's life.

You all have helped this lion in one way or another get through his life in one way or another.

To all that I consider friends and have not named, this is not to slight you in the least. You, and your friendship, are very important to me, but if I named everyone this post would be nothing but names and would get very tedious to read. Again, my thanks goes out to all of you.

And last, but not certainly not least, I want to give the largest thank you for the one being I owe all this too. From my friends, to my parents, to my life, in more than one way.

Thank you, God for letting me be here and giving me the friends and family that you have. For without you I wouldn't be here. My life has been rocky at times, but you have given me the support, guidance, and sometimes intervened when I was stupid, to be able to live a full life.

I pray that you will allow me to continue so I can repay those that I consider my friends in any way that I possibly can.