Pros & Hoes

I wake up from a cloudy dream, the kind you have when you say to yourself ‘just five more minutes’ and you sleep for another hour, to my phone vibrating. It’s DreDre, according to caller ID, and I hear my morningtimey old man voice gargle a sexy “hello?” Two high pitched voices (Andre and Lucy) that are entirely too chipper for it being 8:30AM on a Sunday morning sing that they are outside. I say ok and hang up, laying there for another second or two until I hear them giggling and yelling through the open window. Drag myself out of bed, throw on clothes, proceed out the door. It’s road trip day!

By road trip I don’t mean the 12-ish hour trek I did with the boys up to Gold Coast in January, during which I had plenty of time to curse myself for not bringing a book or an iPod or anything to drown out the sporadic and often disturbing talk of males who think you are sleeping. Today we were just making the 3-ish hour trip out to Busselton, for the Easter Sunday Caves party. Which is not, as the name would have you believe, in a cave at all, but a regular countryside pub/tavern/lounge/hotel. And as I started to wonder what we would talk about during the drive, a playlist was selected that was made up exclusively of romantic ballads of the 80’s and 90’s, and 50 Cent. We sang (poorly), car-danced (also poorly) and almost missed a turn or two, but the time passed quickly and I was reminded again that the Hoegarden girls are the only other people I know who share my intense love and appreciation for Enrique Iglesias. We arrived at the Progarden with plenty of time to primp and pre-drink, and to practice each other’s accents.

I haven’t really had a consistent group of friends throughout my life. In high school I hung out with the same people most of the time, but it wasn't so much because we all got along or shared common interests, as because our school had about 100 people and no one else would hang out with us. Or, quite possibly, that we wouldn't hang out with them. I was excited to graduate and get out into the world so I could find people I truly clicked with. However, that plan kind of back fired because I went right into a tight-knit church community, which is kind of just like high school anyway. I remember having ‘girls nights’ but we usually just ended up talking about weddings or babies or buying houses or something, which is cool when you're 30, but weird when you're 18. When I left the church I tried to maintain a few of those friendships, but the common denominator was gone and it generally just didn't work. So I drifted around, picking up friends here and there along the way. Don’t get me wrong, I dearly love my scattered friends and I know that no matter where in the world we are, we could meet up tomorrow and all would be natural and fun. But I had the sense I was missing out on something.

Enter the Aussies; the crew of 21JS. I had magically stumbled upon an actual friend group! We went out together, we cooked together, we were hungover together. I was given a key to the apartment, and I personally took that as the green light to never wear pants. There was drama and love and tears and memories, and when we eventually disbanded I was very very sorry for myself. Later when I decided to venture over to Australia, I knew that it wouldn't be the same as it was with us in Canada, but I couldn't wait to see everyone and I hoped to meet new people who were just as friendly and accepting. And meet them I did. The first night I was in Sydney, trying not to fall asleep mid-conversation because of jet-lag, I met Joanna and Claire, who immediately appeared to be crazy and hilarious (crazarious?). After my solo East coast meandering I arrived at the Progarden for Australia Day and was abandoned by the boys (fishing and surfing, surfing and fishing as usual) so I went about sitting quietly in the garden like a nanna, hoping someone would talk to me. To my delight, it wasn't long until Teash came up and offered me a funnel of punch. I’d never funneled anything before but I wasn't about to turn down a group initiation ritual, so I gave it a shot. And after that much of the day is a blur but I know I had a lot of fun.

Ever since then the HG and the PG girls have been introducing me to the other insane people in Perth. They have never hesitated to invite me along to house parties or festivals, and they have never judged Frittany’s ridiculous behavior  Like when I tackle Pickles to the ground on the beach or talk nonsense in my sleep and wake up Brucey. Of course there is drama, and of course it can’t last forever. But I feel not so homesick when I show up for pre-drinks and am greeted with (what seems to be) genuine excitement and affection. I love that I have carved a little Canadian niche for myself here in this social group, and I hope they know just how much I appreciate them. Possibly this blog post will explain it better than me drunkenly slurring it when I have a mustache painted on my face at 11PM.