"A friend is someone who knows everything about you, and still likes you"
During my last two years of undergrad, I had transferred to a university just outside of LA where I didn't know anyone. I was 24 years old and it was my first time away from the Bay Area. Homesickness and loneliness made my first two weeks of school very difficult to get through. That all changed though when I was sitting in class waiting for the teacher to arrive and The Tyger just so happened to choose a seat in the row behind me. She was wearing a white tank top with her long straight black hair draped over her shoulders, khaki colored shorts, and black flip-flops. All of us students sitting around each other were chatting away while still waiting for the teacher and it came up that she also lived in the dorms. We both discovered that we were in the same major with the same class schedule. I'm not sure what it is when you meet someone but when we met, I thought to myself, "You and I are going to be good friends". It was then that I gave her my number and told her we should hang out sometime. The rest is history.
The Tyger and I had many memorable adventures while finishing up our degrees. Her dorm was the "party dorm" where endless bottles of booze filled her place and tons of people were always over drinking themselves to an oblivion. It was not uncommon for The Tyger to invite a bunch of people over, get drunk, and then disappear into her room passed out from all the booze. Some host leaving her guests to tend to all those bottles, huh? Drunken nights, hangovers, and dinner parties full filled my last two years of school with her to which I finally graduated with my BA and left to return to the Bay Area.
Since then her and I have always kept in touch. Ten years of Christmases, New Years, and Spring Breaks have made it possible for the two of us to never lose contact. She is my friend, my party buddy, and my partner in crime!
Fast forward 8 years later....
Christmas 2006, my husband and I decided to divorce leaving me with no other option but to continue with my studies in graduate school where I already was in Washington, DC. I suffered from severe depression while trying to get through my thesis, coursework, and school presentations. Going through the process of a divorce and trying to heal at the same time is not easy to say the least but somehow I managed to graduate with my master's degree earning a 3.9GPA ( I got a B in one class, damn it!). Once I graduated, I realized I was left homeless with no place to go except possibly living in my car until I could figure out what to do. Hey, I'm a very adventurous person who embraces change but my car is a bit small even for my tiny frame!
This is where The Tyger stepped in to help me. She had moved to Atlanta about 5 years ago to be with her boyfriend. However, just like me, her relationship wasn't successful and she ended up moving out on her own. Knowing the emotional pain, severe depression, and stress I had been going through for almost 2 years she offered her home to me until I could get back on my feet again. Like a baby learning to walk, they fall down, learn to pick themselves up again, and continue walking. This where I am in my life right now, trying to learn how to walk again. While the decision to come here was a difficult one, I eventually realized being with her was exactly what I needed. I needed rest, a better diet other than salad, sleeping pills, and diet coke, and a shoulder to cry on as the healing process is still continuing.
After driving 12 hours to Atlanta through thunder storms, lightening, farms, strange small southern towns, and trying to figure out why people pronounce the word TOMATO as TOMATER, I finally arrived at The Tyger's apartment located in a very beautiful, hip and trendy area of the city. Seeing her again after 5 long months was comforting and I began to feel relief that there would be somebody there to take care of me for once. I'm forever grateful to her for opening up her home to me as if I was her own family. It's this act of kindness that you don't see too often, at least from where I'm from.
This is where I begin the crazy adventures and the daily on goings of our summer together. Like our unforgettable memories of the dorms, we are leaving our mark in the good 'ol south.
Names have been changed to protect the innocent as well as the guilty.
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