I know it's Saturday. I wasn't in a blogging mood on Thursday. Or at least not in a blogging about good things mood.
Today I'm thankful for Jerbs. She is pretty much the most amazing person I know, and I don't know what I'd do without her. She's my roommate and my best friend AND my ex girlfriend, which I know is kinda weird . . . but somehow we're able to have a fantastic relationship even as exes.
We've known each other for 15 years now, because we had mutual friends in junior high. Honestly, if you met her and me separately, you'd probably never, ever, ever imagine us as good friends, because in a lot of ways we're night and day, but somehow we work. We hung out a lot in high school, and near the end of our senior year we started becoming close friends. Fall of 2003 I went to NAU and she stayed in Kingman; then spring 2004 she went to NAU and I moved back to Kingman. Summer of 2004 was when we kinda sorta started dating. It was the fall of 2004 that we became roommates at NAU and started seeing each other more officially. We broke up in June of 2009 and continued to live together until I moved away with Corey.
Those are the basics. But really . . . she's awesome.
She's a genius. Like actually, really, seriously a genius. She knows pretty much everything and I hate watching Jeopardy with her, because she'll say the answer while I'm still reading the question. Her fields are anthropology and theology.
Kind of a goth.
Least athletic person you'll ever meet. Both as far as being an athlete and watching athletics. I'm a football girl, and when I told her the season was starting in September, she asked what teams were playing that week. I was like . . . all of them? And she was totally confused because she thought only two teams played a week. Hilarious.
Had no idea the Sound of Music involved Nazis until pretty recently. Another hilarious conversation in which I actually knew more than she did.
She is incredibly supportive of me, and even before we were lovahs, I always felt like she . . . I don't know, like she liked me. She has always seemed to think that I am a good person, even if I don't agree with her. She also has never made me feel judged. Even when I'm talking about how crappy things are or something I want to do that I'm struggling with or making decisions that might not be the best, she just listens. I have never once felt like she was judging me at all.
She is very generous and has supported me financially when I haven't been able to support myself, and that amazes me. I love her dearly for that, and I swear, one day, I am going to pay her back every.single.penny. Even if it takes me a while, I'm determined to do so.
She's my RENT buddy. We saw RENT together in high school in Las Vegas (on a school trip) and then again at Gammage in 2009. The 2009 tour had the two main characters being played by the role originators, and it was AMAZING.
She loves to sing, just like I do, even though neither of us is particularly awesome at it. All the years we lived together and had a car, we'd sing musicals together while we drove. And we had our own parts in each musical, too . . . totally one of the things I miss most about having a car.
Animal lover. She always insisted she was a dog person, but now she owns (and dotes on) two cats. They're Russian Blues, because Jerbs is actually allergic to cats. RB's are a hypoallergenic breed and in the almost three years since we adopted the first one (she was supposed to be my cat, but she chose Jerbs) she hasn't had any kind of reaction. It's amazing. I knew she was a cat person deep down.
Because of her I've been to 2 Morrissey concerts (Pasadena and Vegas, and in Vegas we were in the pit) and a Sisters of Mercy concert. The Sisters of Mercy one was especially amusing, because they're a goth metal band and I . . . am not a goth metal person. All the other people there were wearing Doc Martens that had like a million laces, and it was hilarious to watch them undo them all for security screenings. Meanwhile I just slipped out of my little brown loafers! I was also wearing pink socks and a bright Dr. Pepper T shirt and I was SO out of place. Jerbs braved the very violent mosh pit for the whoooooole concert. I lasted approximately 2 minutes and then spent the rest of the night sitting by the wall. It was ridiculous, but I seriously had never seen Jerbs so excited about anything, and it made me really happy.
Austin calls her Auntie Jerbs and he loves her.
We've watched a lot of TV shows together. Some are total guilty pleasures--like America's Next Top Model (we were so addicted in college) and Toddlers and Tiaras. Some are more normal, like Taboo and LOST.
We've been to Comic Con together! It was a long time ago (2004) and sadly we haven't been able to go back since. It was a 24 hour trip (which meant me driving from CA to AZ on zero sleep). We drove 6 hours there, spent 12 hours in San Diego, and drove 6 hours back. It was beyond exhausting but we had so much fun! We would love to go back. Soon.
At that Comic Con, our favorite author (or one of them), Neil Gaiman, was there. And because of the volume of people to see him, only people who won arm bands got to actually get stuff signed by him. I got a band and Jerbs didn't and I felt awful, because she'd been a fan longer and had introduced me to his work and stuff . . . but she wouldn't let me give her the band. I met Neil and got some stuff signed and chatted with him, and it was awesome. (I did get something signed for Jerbs).
Fortunately, in November 2008, the day after Austin was born, Neil did a signing/reading in Vegas and we got to go to that. This time, Jerbs did get to talk to Neil, and they had a good conversation. I felt like it made up for Comic Con a little.
She has literally saved my life. She has literally taken away the bottle of pills I wanted to swallow or the knife I was going to slit my wrists with. I'm not proud of having come so close to attempting suicide but I'm glad she was there to stop me.
There's more I 'm sure but I can't think of it all right now. Let's just say I really love Jerbs and would be totally lost without her. Especially right now.
And no, her name is not actually Jerbs. It's Jenny, Jerbs is just a random nickname I gave her. And there is a semi logical path to it. Plus it makes it easy to distinguish her from my sister Jenny when I talk about them.
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