Special Women 2

Not only do I have two Mums and a fantastic Mum-in-law, I also have an extra sister in my best friend who I'm going to call Cee. I’m not sure where she fits in the #1, #2 and #3 rankings as she is 17 days younger than me (a fact she likes to gloat about), however she is also the eldest of three sisters and often treats me like a younger sister. Cee is infinitely wise but a total klutz, the first words she uttered in my presence, on our third day at university, were ”I’ve just spent ages lost on a flight of stairs,” stairs go up, stairs go down, how do you get lost? - was my reaction. To be fair our halls of residence did have two flights of stairs per corridor and she had been on the wrong one so every time she came out at a floor it looked totally wrong – now I've known her for nearly 11 years that story is the tip of the iceberg of the scrapes she can get herself into.

Cee is the only real life person (apart from O) who knows about the blog, in fact I told her before I told him. Why? Well she has a blog too and was brave enough to tell me about it. If she ever gets back to writing on her blog – she hasn’t for over 2 years (nag) and if she gives me permission I will share it with you, she is hilarious. Why the massive break? Because she has spent the last two years studying for an MSc, she got married and her job got horrible.

Cee welcomed me into her family from the start. She supported and distracted me while I was horribly homesick and not very together. I hope, I supported and distracted her while some members of her family weren’t very together. I love her little sisters as if they were my own. Oh and her grandparents are ah-mazing! Although don’t get her Gran to pour you a drink or you could end up under the table there is nothing like a small measure when Gran Cee is around.

Having lived together for the majority of our university life we decided after graduation that we would go travelling to Canada together. We spent 2 months travelling from Vancouver to Montreal on a greyhound bus with a sly trip to Seattle and New York at either end because it was cheaper to fly in and out of the USA. We had some adventures, we met some characters, we sang to some bears (we were trying to scare them and if you could hear our singing voices you would know that we succeeded in terrifying all nearby living creatures). We had a glass of wine in a Fairmont hotel, we battled a hurricane in Kingston, we scared ourselves witless in Montreal and we had an amazing time!

For what feels like FOREVER she has been battling with this blessed MSc until earlier this month when she has discovered that she passed. I am so over the moon happy for her as I’m acutely aware of all the hard work she has put in. Acutely aware because it has meant that my bestest friend has not been at my beckon call, has had to cancel lunches/dinners so that she could study/cram for an exam and has been stressed to the nth degree. The cheek of it, do I sound suitably spoilt and ungrateful? Good because I’ve missed the heck out of her and can not wait to have her back.