Today's post is about friendship. (I know, for once, a short opening sentence from me! What's happened!?) Well, actually, I'll be focusing on one friend in particular - and the significant impact she has had on my life.
I first met Jade Passfield in around March 2010, at the Warwick Music Centre Ball. She was involved in Chamber Choir, which had quite a bit of crossover with Opera Warwick, so we were introduced fairly quickly. This meant we had plenty of time to chatter away and discover that we also shared many interests outside classical music...and even the same initials! I had been quite nervous about attending the ball, because I didn't know many people aside from my own table, so for me Jade (with her familiar London accent and infectious giggle) was a huge blessing. I seem to recall, by the end of the evening, her being so tipsy that she was sitting on my lap as I drove around the hall, with her glass of wine balanced precariously on my armrest. That sealed the deal. It was as if we had been friends all our lives - a bond which only grew, through jaunts to Curiositea, the student union's adorable vintage tea shop, film nights and celebratory sunbathing outside her accommodation at the end of first year exams.
Our friendship had two principal characteristics - a rye, highly sarcastic sense of humour and a strange, almost twin-like, understanding of what the other was thinking. Nowhere were both of these more obvious than in an incident during one of our rare decisions to defect from Curiositea to the non-student union-owned Costa (it probably served us right!). My chair decided to have a temperamental moment in the queue. Jade was telling me (and it) off, and I was laughing so hard at the awkwardness of the situation that I couldn't speak to place our order. The beleaguered barista was so concerned by this spectacle of the 'poor little disabled girl' unable to move that he gave us both free drinks, with a significant nod at Jade. He clearly thought she was my carer - which made us laugh even harder.
That's why I love Jade - she takes the piss, and takes me to task, just like she would with anyone else. Yet there is also (as there would be with anyone else) an underlying intuition of when I need help, along with a healthy dose of common sense and compassion. It was visible in her suggestion, when we finally had a shared module in second year, that she take notes for both of us to save the bother of organising someone else - but it was most explicitly evident in her unfailing support of me during last year's quest to walk to collect my degree. Support which culminated in her instigating a completely overwhelming standing ovation on the day.
This leads me to my reason for writing about her today. You may remember, a few posts back, that I voiced my desire to raise some more funds for Starlight alongside my concern that it wouldn't be interesting enough the second time around. Jade read it and, in her typically selfless way, said that she had decided to undertake the Great West Run in October because 'she wants to understand just a little of what my body goes through every day', alongside my efforts to get out of my chair.
So, I have an announcement to make. We are embarking on a team fundraising effort - two best friends hoping to make the same difference to other people's lives that we've made in each other's! We've only set a basic target, because we don't want it to be an obligation, but any support will be hugely appreciated.
You can find our team page at https://www.justgiving.com/teams/ParrottandPassfield
Our individual ones are:
http://www.justgiving.com/walkingby2015 (to which I have also linked the 'Sponsor Me' button you will see on the right of this blog)
http://www.justgiving.com/jade-passfield
Thank you for continuing to read my rambles!
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