Britt.

She is hands down one of the best things the universe has gifted me. I moved to Halifax when I was nineteen. She was one of my coworkers at Gatsby's - a restaurant on Spring Garden Road. I remember thinking that she was incredibly adorable and sweet to be around, but we were really only coworkers. I was still dating my first love when I moved to the east coast, and when we broke up, I was devastated. There was just no way I could go in for my closing shift the day that it happened. (Dramatic, I know). I phoned her to ask her if she would be willing to take my closing shift... like two hours before it was scheduled to start. She said she had a dinner and movie date, but why? What's up? I replayed my day for her like it was the end of the world. “Absolutely honey, but can I stop by before going in?” Literally the last thing I wanted to do was see another human, but it’s pretty difficult to say no to someone right after they pull a favour for you like that. An hour later, she showed up at my apartment with three of her favorite books in hand (thus began my love for Stuart Maclean), my favorite latte, AND my favorite cookie. I feel the need to stress the point that we were acquaintances, and I don't even know how she could possibly have known those things about me. But that's Britt. And I just remember thinking, “Welp… I'm never letting her go.” Our friendship fast tracked. I had my own place, but Britt gave me a spare set of her keys. I spent eighty percent of my time in her dreamy little apartment on Church Street, listening to records and trying to get her just-a-touch-obese cat, Zeppelin, to accept me as part of the package now. For everything amazing as Brittni is, back then, a good dishwasher she was not. I would stop in when I knew she was at school, clean the kitchen for her, sometimes make her a snack plate, leave her a love note, and be on my way. I'd always get a call from her a few hours later with a thousand thank-yous that she at least didn't have to deal with that shit when she got home. We've spent thirteen years of our fifteen-year friendship long distance, and we are closer than ever. She used to write me birthday "raps" every year; throw on a baseball cap, and rap them to me. It was fucking amazing. She still to this day sends me homemade cards in the mail, just to tell me she thinks I'm awesome, and that she loves me. She takes care of me like no other. If something painful happens to me in my life, she is the first to cry. Always. She is also the smartest person I know. If I have a question, nine times out of ten, I don't Google it - I call her. She is my human Google. She is in the home stretch in completing her doctorate in Psychology. (I wasn't kidding about her smarts). But she is also talented in so many other ways. She is an incredible artist. Whatever home I'm

living in is always decorated with Britt originals. And she's a pretty remarkable handy woman. Doing things like building a desk, well, because I needed one. She plays guitar and makes the best coffee I've truly ever had, and she doesn't even drink the stuff. Also, I mean, have you LOOKED at her?! I've always been convinced that the mermaid on the Starbucks cup was modeled after Britt. She also married her high school sweetheart, Ryan, twenty years after the fact. How fucking perfect is that? I could write a complete novel about this woman. Maybe I will one day. She is basically perfection to me. I only hope that my friends – hell, even my enemies – have their own version of Brittni in their life, because if you do, no matter how bad you think you are losing, you are winning.

I adore you my beautiful ginger. Don't ever forget that. JW