The impossible catch-up

Saturday I caught up with four people who will be able to tell you just how crazy I am well after I forget how to type and claim that my name is Gladice the Second; a group of individuals who goes by the collective of “my best friends and Sibell”.

My best friends – in alphabetical order Janu, Joanne and Sheree – and I met in high school, some time between going on rides on le petit train in Noumea and jumping out of boxes while swathed in bits of blue material. Let’s just say that we survived a rather strange formative period just to become even stranger as adults.

As adults our paths have led us in different directions – Jo got married and had a baby. That baby goes by the name of Sibell, is now three years old and can name every animal on the planet. I am not even kidding, if you point to a pelican and say “Look Sibell, a bird”, she’ll give you a look that says “I pity thy simple intellect” and say “that’s a pelican”. She can distinguish between purple and lilac. The kid is smart. Jo is a multi-tasker extraordinaire and somehow manages to work full-time, cook clean and teach her daughter calculus. If she ever got into politics she would knock the world on its butt and sort it straight out. Then teach it calculus.

Sheree is a real estate tycoon, almost. She and her partner have several properties and are in the process of renovating their latest purchase. More importantly, she is one of the world’s nicest and most selfless people. And she’s gorgeous. Yup one day she’ll shyly work her way to being the most influential woman in the world, get a cover and full-page spread in Vogue and nobody will begrudge her anything because she’s just so nice.

Janu has the power to light up an entire room within seconds of entering it. If you plugged her up right she could power the globe (and solve all of our renewable energy problems). She also has a knack for knowing exactly what to say to put your problems in perspective with just the right amount of empathy. She is studying sociology and when she’s done she’s going to spend part of her time making this world a better, more equal place to live and part of her time counselling me through my latest interaction with a slow person.

The one thing that we all have in common is that we are pathetically attached to each other. I could not imagine my life without these girls. Despite this attachment, getting all four (and a half) of us together in the same spot at the same time is a rare feat and takes monumental planning. We need to call at the right time to organise the right place at the right time on the right day in the right week of the right month. Oh and the planets have to spell out “Do it already” before it happens.

So Saturday was a big deal. We met up, sat through giant chicken schnitzel burgers – and a couple of intellectually-challenged waitstaff – and after two hours of non-stop talking and foundation-shaking laughing, when it came to an end and the separation anxiety started to kick in, we decided we needed to do it again sometime soon. We’re thinking 12:03pm on the 3rd of December 2015, so if you’re planning to be in Sydney, I apologise for the noise.