…that friend

…that friend

I consider myself super fortunate, I am blessed with some truly amazing friends. Everyone is good at something, I think I excel at finding good people.

I have one friend who was at my very first birthday party and every birthday since. I have my small squad from junior high, the four of us chat daily. And then there’s my big gang of cousins who are technically family and not friends, but are amazing, no matter what title I give them.

I have numerous friends from work that I have collected and fostered throughout the years; I love and appreciate them all! But this post is not about them, this post is about “that friend”.

Before I talk about “that friend”, I feel like I need a disclaimer. If we are friends, chances are that I have either conned you or talked you into doing something that you thought was ridiculous, but you did it anyway, for that I say thank you and I am sorry, lol. You maybe thinking, I am “that friend”, but I know my limitations with you and I respect and love you. You’re still super duper fun!!

But this post is about “that friend”, who says yes before knowing what they are getting into, because they don’t care, they are down for whatever.

Guess what? I not only have one of “those friends”, I’ve found two!!! One here in Moncton and one in Las Vegas.

“That friend” in Moncton is Alie, we met at work 15ish years ago; we first bonded on a work trip to New Mexico. I knew we were kindred spirits when we saw a tumbleweed cross the road, neither of us had ever seen one before, so one of us, I don’t remember which one, thought it would be a fun idea to stop, pick it up and put it in the back of our rental. And that’s just what we did!

We were so pleased with ourselves as we drove back to our hotel. Do you know who wasn’t into our tumbleweed adventure?? The technician we were traveling with, the rental was under his name and he was not impressed to find a giant tumbleweed in the back of the SUV! I believe his exact words were WTF??!!

Fun fact, tumbleweeds are really sharp, prickly, dirty and probably have a bunch of little bugs in them?? After being forced to set our tumbleweed free, I knew she was my kind of people!

She is down for all my shenanigans!! She doesn’t judge me or even flinch at my hair brain ideas. I take a little bit of pleasure when people flinch just a bit, when I announce what we will be doing next, lol. I like keeping friends & family on their toes, but she nods yes un-phased, and just like that, we are off on another adventure.

When driving she’ll pull over so we can talk to cows and take their pictures; we both love cows.

I called her once and told her to come over, that we needed to make hundreds of paper snowflakes. Did she asked what for? Nope she showed up with paper and we made it snow.

We made this snowflake chandelier for my Christmas Eve feast, it was sooo beautiful!

We both love Halloween and usually celebrate together. Last year was shaping up to be a boring Covid, non-party Halloween. I called her up and said let’s be skeletons! She thought it was an awesome idea, of course.

We cranked the tunes and got spooky! It was so much fun; sometimes I think getting ready for a party is almost more fun than the actual party.

 

Then in 2016, I moved to the US. I knew a few work people there already so I had a few friends. What I wasn’t expecting is to find another “that friend”.

…that other friend

Her name is Lynn, we worked in the same department, I had met her a few times before moving, but to be honest I didn’t think we had much in common or that we would end up with such an awesome friendship.

She’s a California girl and I am from New Brunswick, two very, very different places. But that didn’t matter, she welcomed me and took me to a super cool Mexican place where she decided we would be friends, lol.

Our first activity was a yoga class by a fancy pool, which was followed by brunch and then selfies at Seven Magic Mountains, which is an art instillation 15 min off the strip. I mean, hello!!! Fancy pools, fancy meals and selfies; those are my jam!!

For the next three years I bombarded her with mini day trips. I knew I wouldn’t be in Vegas forever, so I wanted to do and see as much as I could. And she was always game!

We kayaked at Willow Beach were the water is so clear you can see the fish and if you’re lucky enough you will also happen upon a family of goats grazing on the mountain side.

We explored Death Valley where we almost died from heat exposure, (slight exaggeration alert, we were probably just really hot). We hiked Mount Charleston and tried to nurse an injured lizard back to life.

We decided we needed to prepare for the end of times, so we bought pink flashlight tasers, dehydrated food pouches and first aid kits; little did we know that we were headed for a global catastrophe.

Each outdoor adventure was followed by a decadent brunch, mimosas and Sprite, lol. She was that friend, who like me, enjoyed new activities, followed by a snack. Sure we are outdoorsy…for like 45min and then where is the new funky place where we can go for lunch?

Our motto turned out to be: we came, we did stuff, then we lunched!!

Lynn helped me make the most of my time in Las Vegas, for that, I am so grateful!

If you’re wondering what the hell my point is with this post? Aside from calling out two awesome, independent and adventurous ladies, it’s to remind all of us to be “that friend” every once in awhile.

Say yes to something weird, try something new and don’t be afraid to look ridiculous. Who cares??This past year has changed our routines and limited our options, so I think being “that friend” and having “that friend” is even more important than ever!!

Thank you for reading!!

muah!

Liette