Mari

I was in Leonard Cafeteria (obviously) one evening - this was during November of 2010 - and I was eating with some friends when Mari came and joined us at the table. I did not know Mari personally but I had eaten with her a few times that year. In Leonard Cafeteria terms, eating "with" someone could mean anything from sitting across from them during a meal to being at opposite ends of a table, depending on how big your peer group was during that particular dining experience. In Mari's case, having eaten "with" her meant that I recall seeing her at some of our larger meal gatherings. She seemed friendly enough but as was the usual case when I sat with people I wasn't familiar with, I did not speak unless spoken to.

And then Mari spoke to me! Not only that, but I distinctly remember that precise meal as the defining moment when Mari and I became friends because I was struck by the warmth that was emanating from her being when she spoke to me.

She, here's the thing with Mari: she is a very warm person. She is such a caring individual that you can hear it in her voice when she speaks. Maybe it's just the wonderful combination of being friendly and having a great sense of humor but bringing Mari into a social dynamic usually results in good feelings all around. She makes you feel safe, I guess, which is probably part of the reason why she was a don.

Speaking of safe, Mari is also a professional driver. This is probably the single most awesome thing about anyone ever. I always assume that this means that nothing can go wrong when she's behind the wheel but that may or may not be an example of me exaggerating the extent to which you can draw reasonable conclusions from a given premise. Either way, it's still the single most awesome thing about anyone ever.

Mari also knows more about birds than anyone else I know.

She also once referred to the penis as "the beef bayonet" though she may or may not have been quoting someone. Either way, it was funny; especially paired with the "We're going to war!" chant she used to illustrate the (un)suitability of the term.

When it comes down to it, though, Mari is awesome because she's yet another person I met through absolutely no effort of my own. I know this makes me sound like a lazy arse who can't be bothered to make friends but I really am incredibly uncomfortable around people I don't know... and I do admire those people who have enough self-confidence to reach out to me when I give them absolutely no reason to. Because if people didn't do this, this blog would run dry pretty quickly. Fortunately, there are people like Mari and Courtney and Tim (and many others) who are willing to reach out to people who aren't particularly good at reaching out on their own.