Mimosa Madness!

CJ said the other day she was perfectly happy for once as all the people she loved were in the same geographical vicinity. I get what she means now. Last night, I welcomed home my good friend Phoebe - so nicknamed after the same of Friends fame. Not that she’s the slightest bit ditzy, our feisty Doctor (yes, most of my friends are doctors, it was the college we went to!) is the sharpest tool in the shed. However, once we were on holiday with a group of English backpackers, and not one of them could pronounce her name, so they called her Phoebe. Months later, another one of my English (male) friends did the same. I’m afraid it’s stuck ever since!

Pheebs is only back for a week, and despite the fact we’re not in constant contact everyday, given her busy schedule, it only took one evening to have me remembering how fond I am of her. She’s a lot like me, except amplified a tenfold! Scary thought, eh!

What got my attention was my realisation that I love who I am with her, for she brings out the (even) wild(er) side of me.

Like CJ is the Yin to my Yang – ever the voice of reason and sensibility and yes, gives balance to my universe, Phoebe causes me to throw caution to the wind and live! In fact, with Phoebe,I feel like the sane one!

Like she would talk at the top of her voice in public, wanting to know the most intimate of details, and when I resist, she just scoffs "Like you’re ever going to see these people again."

You've got to admit, the girl has a point!

However, like CJ, she too, is incredibly protective of me. (I guess I bring out that quality in all my friends?) This one time we were at a dodgy nightclub and I overheard a group of men say something along the lines of "Look at these fit women, they deserve to be raped." Completely appalled, I told Phoebe immediately. She didn’t hesitate. Without even checking with me who said what, she whirled around and slapped the first guy she got. (Guilt by association and all...)

Of course, if I was 6 foot tall with that raging temper and volume to match, I’m guessing the guys wouldn’t dare do too much either. Phoebe certainly was not a force to be reckoned with!

She was also the one who literally, taught me all about the bare facts of life. I’ll never forget our bedroom behaviour conversations! Every guy I’d been with really has her to thank (or blame?) for giving me a clue (or several!).

She has a carefree sense of living life to the fullest and to hell with the consequences I wish I had, but I know I have something like sanity and reason holding me back! On that same holiday it was Phoebe who decided we should go skinny dipping. Short of pulling my suit off, she made me go along with it. The old Vixen would be cringing with embarassment, but the Vixen now is proud of her so called "wild" past.

But I’m a fake wild child. I’m still me, I still consider the consequences and truly, I would never do something like that without the Phoebe's demands (or lots and lots of alcohol!). Also, I can’t deny I’m a little bit afraid of her! But Phoebe always seems to innately know I want to do, but my inhibitions were holding me back. She's not ever made me do anything I didn't already secretly want to do.

I look up to her - then and now.

All my friends have qualities I admire and wish I could emulate. But the fact is - I genuinely feel loved back with friends like Phoebe and CJ. I’m very lucky in the people who’ve chosen to have me in their lives, and its something I hope they never feel I take for granted.