She’s full of wonder. You’ll be walking alongside her (2 meters apart), and she’ll notice something — a beautiful sunbird, the way the sky blends into the ocean, the unique edifice of a building you never noticed before — and before you know it, she’ll be off! To get closer, to delight in what she’s seeing, and to share her thoughts with you. So keep an eye on her, or she’ll leave you in the dust. Hint: if she gasps, if her eyes start to glint (in the way you always read about, but never actually thought was possible), she’s found something worth stopping for. Make sure your shoelaces are tied and ready to go.
She’s whimsical. Borderline mischievous. Go dancing with her, and while others are busy showing off their moves or flaunting their bodies, she pulls the most Napoleon-Dynamite moves. On purpose. You might be too busy laughing to actually dance, but either way, it’ll be an evening to remember.
Other people’s trash is her treasure. She is the queen of repurposing discarded objects. One day, I absent-mindedly folded a square paper into an origami crane. She took it home, gave it a go, and decided that for a May Ball she was organising, she’d decorate the space with these birds. She got wallpaper swatches, and between the two of us, we folded around 500 of them. Free materials, free labour, and priceless conversations produced beauty you couldn’t buy.
She has a way with words. But not how you think. Have you ever been shocked into laughter? Let her talk. You’ll soon find out that this is a regular occurrence. One time, she was telling me all about her experience walking the Camino with her dad, and she says, “I didn’t wear make-up a single day, and by the end, I felt like a thumb.” Not: “I felt gross,” or “I felt so ugly,” or what people normally say. Nope, she opted for thumb. Who does that?! I couldn’t stop laughing. I’m laughing now.
She doesn’t put up with nonsense. When others are too timid — or too lazy — to contradict, she doesn’t hold back. In a world of passive-aggressive people, she is refreshingly forthcoming. When I wanted to give up on someone, she pushed me to be bolder and fight harder. When a mutual friend of ours was being avoidant, she called him out on his behaviour. When some guy tried to ask her out in the middle of a silent church service (it was Easter Friday, you weren’t supposed to talk, and you certainly weren’t supposed to contemplate anyone’s beauty except Christ’s — though I suppose some romantics might sympathise more with the guy here), she shooed him off.
I could say a lot more. I could talk about how if you’re with her, you will never, ever get lost. I could give many stories of how she protects her own (truly: if you cross one, you cross her). I could explain why tea with her (Earl Gray!) is just as good as wine with her. I could point to how more than almost anyone I know, she lives the L’Oreal mantra (“Because I’m worth it”) and why that means you’ll never see her pull a “Just a salad for me, please”. But for now, this is enough.
