You know, the whole party will wipe if you don't have characters who throw buffs and heals...

So, I sometimes comment that I feel like a secondary character in other people's lives: that I'm not the protagonist.
And  some days, that feels really, really rewarding when I'm reminded how GOOD a secondary character I am.

Today, I went to a party for someone who is among my best friends.  She just finished her gruelling three-year hospital  residency and is finally starting up her practice.  And I've been a shoulder for her to lean on during stressy times since she was eighteen -- nearly half her life.

I genuinely feel like I had some part in getting her through all this, and I find myself feeling just a little proud of myself in her accomplishment.   More proud of her, of course, and proud to be her friend, but, yeah, proud of myself, too.

And then, tonight, when Jo Walton her Best Novel Hugo (against a whole bunch of other brilliant books, not a weak book on the list), she namechecked me.

I got quoted in a Best Novel Hugo acceptance speech!

If I was merely the protagonist in my own story, well, that would be one story.  I'm starting to feel that it's better to be a supporting character in MANY stories.