"Jackie"

We met in college almost twenty years ago.  When we first met, I made it my business to say something mean or roll my eyes at her every time she spoke or walked in the room.  Then, my reasons were that I felt she was silly or annoying or naive.  After all, I was a big time college junior, and she was a mere freshman who seemed to laugh at everything and talk to everyone.  In retrospect, I can admit that I was jealous.  Unlike me, she wasn't hesitant or reserved around strangers.  She didn't shrink or second guess herself, and she wasn't the type to brood.  At that age, she was innately confident in ways that I still struggle with.  That is one of the things I love and admire about her. Later, she told me that despite my early rudeness, she knew we were going to be friends.  Although my senior year would have been miserable without her (and two other girls, one of which I will write about shortly), the moment that told me we would be friends forever happened after I graduated.

To make a long story short, I started my post graduate life in Charlotte, where we went to college, with an apartment, a roommate, and a really cool internship in television news (certainly a story for another post).  I ended it with nothing but the things in my bedroom in a two-bedroom apartment after my roommate moved out with every thing else (literally, me, my clothes, and my bedroom furnishings with no living room or kitchen necessities; an even greater story for another post).  Jackie was still in school but working during Christmas break.  She had a few weeks to spare before going home to West Virginia and needed some where to stay off campus.  I also had a few weeks left before my parents would drive up to take me back home to Georgia.  Though I tried to talk her out of it, She opted to stay with me in my embarrassing, pitiful situation.  I had a pretty sizable closet, and she made a pallet in that closet and slept there as if was the grandest hotel.  That's a real friend, and I am confident in saying that.  Jackie is sweet and sassy, stylish and classic, delicate and strong.

The "Jackie" in Turquoise

The "Jackie" in Purple Coconut Wood

The "Jackie" in Patikan Wood