Whilst I was mentioning to her about how *anal* my Mum can be at times, this friend of mine retorts “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, honey” and we both laugh. Only a close friend can tell it like it is, and you know she’s close because you have numerous pairs of shoes the same as hers!
Picture this: I had a new co-worker coming to my workplace, in the late 90s. Only being at the bottom of the proverbial food chain at the company, I had no idea of the new girl’s details (even name) until just before her start date.
I was excited and nervous. I’m a real people person and I love to chat, and we would be working pretty closely together. I had wondered whether she would be chatty, younger or older, excited and motivated or distracted and distant......
I don’t remember the day I met Ally, but I know now it changed my life. This new girl was just as bubbly and chatty as I was!
At some point we realised why we were so similar....
we shared the exact same birthday!!!
She was in a long term relationship like me (she was married whereas I only wished I was), and back then we even went to Jenny Craig together (Sorry Ally! LOL remember the work we had to do for one elusive tim tam a week?)
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Things changed and when Ally got another job elsewhere we lost touch. I ended up buying a house in the same suburb as her. We both can’t remember why we lost touch, looking back. But that doesn’t matter now...
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When I was looking at learning patchwork (Christmas 2009), I found that there is a patchwork store in my suburb!! Looking through the gallery of the store's events I saw a familiar face out of nowhere it was Ally! She actually worked there!
I wondered if she recalled why we drifted apart, and was really concerned I’d done something horrible and since forgotten!
When the store opened in the new year I called the store to ask something and who should answer but Ally!
OMG I was crapping my pants that maybe I was her arch nemesis and I’d forgotten some dramatic reason that we weren’t close friends like we once were! And now I was putting my cheek out for the slapping! WhatdoIsay!!?
All that was rushing through my head and I managed to tell her it was me, and asked if she remembered me. She did, of course, and whilst she was preparing to say “how have you been?” I jumped in to say “before we go any further, did I, like, break your heart or anything???” LOL (*go me* for too honest) and thank God she also can’t remember if we had some blowout or why we drifted apart!!
We said we’d love to see each other again soon, I tried not to act too keen (read: “stalker who knows where you work and live”) by leaving it a few hours before adding her on facebook LOL. I’ve since found out she was anticipating I’d add her straight away and basically we both over analysed it LOL.
I’d asked her plenty of technical questions throughout construction of my first quilt, and would have been totally lost without her when it came to basting. I basted that quilt on the floor at her place before quilting it in my little Singer.
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My husband calls me an “All or nothing” kind of person. I’d love to sms all my friends every single day if I had the time, but I think I’d annoy them (so I don’t). Or like when I become a fan of an artist, the “all” part of my personality comes shining through (for example this quilt I made for Bob Corbett!)
Thankfully for me, Ally is somewhat an All or Nothing person too, and we talk every day.
I could go on and on but I’ll wrap it up with a few facts such as she was the first to know I was pregnant with my son (I even sent her an MMS of the home pregnancy test to ask if it was really two blue lines or not and she didn’t flinch LOL), we both love to create, and her third son was born within a few months of my first so we tend to talk ‘breastfeeding’ pretty much weekly hehe.
I thank God she is in my life and we hope there isn’t any more ‘drifting apart’ ever again.
Make sure you check out her blog and her facebook page
Merry Christmas guys, and all the best wishes for 2013!
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