Who ever knew I'd become great friends with the Girl-With-the-Dinosaur-in-her-Backyard?! Heather was one of those people who, throughout university I knew who she was (lots of people did) but she didn't know me. If it seems like I'm painting her with a Scarlet Letter in reputation, let me back up. Her dad was the wildly successful coach of the Dinos Football team (he is now in the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame!) and so many people knew Heather as the coach's daughter. Apparently this moniker helped her cut the line at many a nightclub back in the day - all the ex-football player bouncers knew her - so it's unfortunate I didn't know her better then!
Heather and I met at Nick's Steakhouse. We were both working there as servers during the end of our Education degrees. There were a small group of us who became friends while working there together and eventually Heather was my first.......roommate! Well, sort of - we initially moved out together with a third girl who turned out to be.....um.....wacky? (Is that a PC and sensitive term?) No matter, we worked around her because we were happy in our 100+ year old house in Sunnyside. It was undoubtedly a firetrap but it survived our Hat Party and Boxer Short Party during the year we lived there. Eventually we moved to Parkdale, where I lived with Heather for another year and a half while both threw ourselves into our first years of teaching.
What to tell you about Heather? Well, from living with her I can tell you that she is a night-owl but then that girl can sleep! It was more than once that I got a call at my school, from someone at her school wondering where she was. Colleagues were combing her drive route, thinking she must be in a ditch while she actually slept soundly through her blazingly loud alarm. Other Fun Facts? She was (is?) the Martha Stewart of my social circles. Heather loves to cook and entertain and the way she decorates her house and especially her table for all occasions certainly puts my flowered napkins from Costco to shame! She's "all-in" for any sort of theme party too and has lost hours of her life sewing (usually at the very last minute) some intricate costume for Halloween or the like.
Heather is a woman of very few words. HaHaHaHaHaHaHaHa........ actually, she is famous for her stories. Often she will say out loud that she has lost her place and has actually become bored of telling a particular story herself. She went on some fun travel excursions in her youth (aren't we STILL in our youths?!) and has been through some less-fun "grown up" excursions since then. All of our experiences make us who we are, though, and Heather has many a wise word to say about much of it. She is open to sharing. (Even though she would say "ompen" to sharing - a pronunciation she literally can't get her lips around and so a harmless point of teasing over the years.)
I believe busy people generally like to be busy and Heather fits this description. She and her kids are all active with family, sports and school. Heather juggles home and career in Calgary and during her "vacations" in the Shuswap spends much of her time at the family cabin swinging a hammer or hauling something from point A to point B. She is a hands-on girl with an awesome work ethic.
It was wonderful to get to spend the evening with her tonight over fabulous food and flowing wine. Even though I'm not sure I got to say much! ;) <3
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