Then...Now...the Future

I said good bye to Julia tonight. It was another hard good bye! It was a big good bye! The next time I see my bestfriend, it will be just before my wedding this summer, shortly before her very own wedding.

24 November 2005 - Vancouver Canucks vs Chicago Blackhawks - GM Place Arena

This photos was taken in November 2005 at GM Place (now known as Roger's Arena). This was one of the first photos of Julia and I together. It was also our first hockey game together too!

Julia and I have caught the Vancouver Canucks play every year since that photo, traditionally on Boxing Day...

January 2012 - Vancouver Canucks vs San Jose Sharks - Roger's Arena

This photo is the latest photo of Julia and I taking in a Vancouver Canucks game together. It will be our last photo together at a hockey game as single women.

When this last photo was taken, it brought back soo many memories for me. SOO MANY MEMORIES!

Julia and I have been through a lot, together and apart! We can't even start to record everything that has occurred...and there's constantly more occuring every day we are bestfriends!

We worked together at Bell. We became friends together at Bell.

We worked together at PICH. We partied together during the PICH years.

We travelled and vacationed locally together, Pender Island being one of them.

We struggled to stay connected when Julia went to London, England for her Master's. That's when Facebook came into play for our friendship. The photos we loaded...I think it stopped once we both broke the 100 album marker...hehehe It helped when she kept coming back home for the holidays.

We struggled to stay connected when she remained in London to work. It really helped when she came home for the holidays.

I managed to visit her in London and we travelled to Spain together. We love Sangrias, Paellas and all the other Tapas selections.

I loved it when she moved back to Vancouver, but it hurt when she moved to Ottawa shortly after! Even though she was back in the same country, she was still miles and miles away. The visits during the holidays continued to help.

After family, she was the first person I called when Richard proposed to me...she already knew it was coming. Toby, her fiance msg'd me to give me a heads up that he was going to propose. After family, she called me when he proposed in the YOW airport!

With her fiance's help, we planned a great surprise visit where I dropped in on her in Ottawa!

As engaged women, we enjoyed wedding dress shopping and bridesmaid dress shopping and of course each other's company! It's always great to share everything with your bestfriend and I can't think of anything better than what we are going through now in our lives together at the same time. Engagement...Wedding...and our futures together with the man that we love!

Here's to memories of the past...memories we are making with each new day...and to our futures!

Julia Harrison (Bestfriend)

(Note: this will continue to edited as time goes on...there will be rambling...there will be reminiscencing...)

Julia Harrison is my first best friend and one of two best friends...

I met Julia one day at work at Bell late in 2005.

She was in desperate need of a distraction so I dragged her out. I know how she was feeling and I know for me, the best way to deal with it was to be busy doing something. So off to Red Robins on Robson Street we went for a crispy chicken salad and speckled lemonade! This pretty much because our friendship's signature dish. Through talking, tears and laughs it was our first steps to the start of our friendship!

Honestly, I would have never thought I'd ever find a gal who I would consider a bestfriend. As close as I am to many of my friends, I've never been that close in that way to them. It's the same as with my two godbrothers, we're close, but just not in the same way as it would be if it was with your BFF!

Julia and I have some similarities, but with many differences. I think that's why this friendship works, because of those differences. We bring out different aspects of each other. We bring out the good. Okay, sometimes, we also bring out the bad. But in the end, we brush the bad off and move on to the next thing that comes our way. Life's too short to dwell.

Though I revert back to my distant and self-conscious self, Julia slaps me and reminds me that no matter what stupid or mean thing I could possibly do, she'll always be there and I can always count on her. I shouldn't worry so much about being following that perfect straight line or colour outside of the lines. The trust thing is just so hard for me, but Julia always knows and reminds me because I need reminding.

_____Aug 11'09_____


It's always hard to be bestfriends with this woman!
How can you stay close when she's galavanting around the world a year after you started your friendship for the last 3 years? And now...she's moving to Ottawa for up to and maybe more than FIVE (5) years!!!!

We some how manage...as bestfriends always do!

It's going to be hard this time though...her move to Ottawa will be closer to permanent for her career. At least with Europe, it was temporary. Sooner or later she had to come back home. With Ottawa, it's pretty much going to be home for her!

It looks like both our carbon footprints will increase as we travel back and forth between Vancouver and Ottawa to visit! At least this time she's in the same country. We'll be txt'ing, msg'ing, calling, etc...more often without killing our bank accounts.

_____

Julia knows me quite well. She knows how skittish I can get. She knows what sets me off. She knows I'm shy as hell in the strangest moments. She also knows what's needed to calm me down. And if all else fails, she seems to have permission to slap me into sanity again...hehehe...thank goodness it hasn't come to that yet!

She knows that I need to be reassured constantly during those rough times that no matter what...she'll always be there...that's what bff's are for. I'm sure she'd even help me bury the dead body if it comes down to it...hahaha...I'd do the same!

I can always expect the cold hard truth from her. If I'm being a drama queen...she will tell me to stop being a drama queen. If I'm being stupid and insane...she won't hold back! She also knows that whatever she tells me is because she luvs me and that she's only looking out for me. As I do with her. We might get hurt, we might get pissed, we might pout and frown....but after a moment, "well, now that that's over, what's up next?" We don't hold it against each other! Not for very long!

It's with Julia that I'm learning to trust and depend again without feeling the heeping pile of guilt when I rely on others!

_____Aug 27'09_____

...to be continued...