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Leaving behind a thank-you note, by Brian Williams
After tonight's broadcast and after looting our hotel mini-bars, we're going to try to brave the blizzard and fly east to home and hearth, and to do laundry well into next week. Before we leave this thoroughly polite country, the polite thing to do is leave behind a thank-you note.

Thank you, Canada:

For being such good hosts.

For your unfailing courtesy.

For your (mostly) beautiful weather.

For scheduling no more than 60 percent of your float plane departures at the exact moment when I was trying to say something on television.

For not seeming to mind the occasional (or constant) good-natured mimicry of your accents.

For your unique TV commercials -- for companies like Tim Hortons -- which made us laugh and cry.

For securing this massive event without choking security, and without publicly displaying a single automatic weapon.

For having the best garment design and logo-wear of the games -- you've made wearing your name a cool thing to do.

For the sportsmanship we saw most of your athletes display.

For not honking your horns. I didn't hear one car horn in 15 days -- which also means none of my fellow New Yorkers rented cars while visiting.

For making us aware of how many of you have been watching NBC all these years.

For having the good taste to have an anchorman named Brian Williams on your CTV network, who turns out to be such a nice guy.

For the body scans at the airport which make pat-downs and cavity searches unnecessary.

For designing those really cool LED Olympic rings in the harbor, which turned to gold when your athletes won one.

For always saying nice things about the United States...when you know we're listening.

For sharing Joannie Rochette with us.

For reminding some of us we used to be a more civil society.

Mostly, for welcoming the world with such ease and making lasting friends with all of us.

Link to the website

Although I will point out one thing: I've heard numerous visiting Americans comment on how super-polite and friendly Canadians are. And yet every time my family goes to America, we're struck by the exact same thing. Whether we're in LA, New York, Florida, Boston, wherever, our hosts are gracious and friendly and take great pains to make us feel at home. So while I defer to the American Brian Williams' obviously greater experience regarding actually living in America, I'll can't help but disagree with him over "reminding some of us we used to be a more civil society." Y'all seem pretty civil to us.

Also, I can't believe I never noticed that there were two Brian Williams. And I watch NBC, CBC, and CTV regularly. I could name both of them; just never noticed they had the same name ::facepalm::
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I'd like to write a thank-you note to my mom. I'm glad I appreciated her while she was alive, even though she regularly drove me nuts. I wish, so much, that my kids had grandparents close by to watch them grow, and to give us advice about certain developmental leaps. Failing that, I've been trying to channel my mom in the last couple of days, as Daniel has been taking some pretty major leaps.