Lois

I've always held that it's a good practice to designate one day of each week as your "I don't have to think" day. Basically, you plan your week so that on this particular day, every moment is accounted for so that you can have a day that is free of making any decision beyond what is necessary to engage in the tasks you've already planned. When I was in fourth year, Thursday was this day. I had class all day until 4 PM and badminton from 8:30 to 11:30. Between the end of class and badminton, Lois would always meet me in the cafeteria for dinner (and an after-dinner conversation) and thus allowed me to go through my Thursdays free from having to think about what I was going to do that entire day. And it was awesome.

Lois has the distinction of being the only other person from my high school to attend Queen's. Anthony T. also went to our school and also attended Queen's but neither of us ever heard from him (nor did we get invitations to his birthday party...) so we choose to ignore him. At any rate, Lois and I always shared that bond - one that was made even stronger when we considered that as far as we knew, we were the only ones from our high school in recent memory to attend Queen's and would likely be the last for years to come.

It's kinda funny - Lois and I had never really been THAT close when we were in high school. Part of that might have had to do with our age gap (2 years) that seemed a lot bigger way back when. It's kind of funny how easy it is to bond over a history - even if that history is sparse. It kinda makes me think... well, it makes me think of Monica and Rachel from Friends... but um... besides that, it also makes me think that maybe we have a far greater capacity for forming bonds with other people than we think. I mean, it's not as if Lois and I constantly yarned over the "good old days" whenever we ate in the cafeteria. And yet, just having that little bit of history is a little bit like having an inside joke you can pull out at any time - just knowing that the person gets it is enough to to make you consider that she might also get the newer jokes too.

It also helps that Lois always sounds like she's happy to see me. She generally has a happy demeanor, even when she's stressed, and she likes to laugh and is simply a friendly person. She also doesn't use contractions in her speech - it's one of her quirks that I've always, for some reason, found endearing. Add all that to the fact that she's willing to humor me in my "weekly tradition" type dinners (seriously, as soon as she noticed it become a semi-established routine, she never missed a week) and you have, I should say, a thoroughly wonderful girl.