My friend put this bouquet together right before my eyes using the flora from his garden. He's the floral director at Chez Panisse. I've covered him for the Chronicle and I interviewed him today for a story for another magazine over lunch at Chez Panisse, which he surprised me with. I didn't want to get too in depth on my other blog, but it's so rare that journalists like me are shown gratitude. You know I have struggled with this before. Today was a gold-medal day. I have gratitude for the gratitude. We also talked a lot about the struggle of freelancers. I relayed your friend's story about 14 years of bountiful assignments, which he appreciated hearing. And we also talked about how we were seeing the same turn for the better in the economy, and proportionately in our workloads. So maybe today was serendipitous, on several levels. I certainly didn't wake up knowing just how great my day was going to be, but the surprise was definitely appreciated, and I'm reading it as another sign pointing me in the direction of freelancing success.—SF