WCW: My dear friend Stella

I don't write these posts with the intention to make people cry or feel all the feelings, but if that happens then I guess it happens. My intention of these posts is to showcase strong, inspirational women in my life who have pushed me to be the best version of myself, and I want people to know, especially those young impressionable girls, that the real role models, the real women you should look to for inspiration are not those girls on the covers of the magazines, but those girls and women who are living life with you, those girls who are in the trenches experience what you are going through.  I'm not saying idolizing a celebrity is a horrible thing, some of them are really quite well rounded, but a lot of them well they have lived a very different life than you or I so how could they really know what's good and they are exposed to things that many of us never see.

When I was 20 I started working at a restaurant while I was going through my first year of university. At this time I was working with my friend Kim and her sister as well as another girl.  The first thing I thought when I met this girl was "wow is she ever happy and energetic!" I was almost overwhelmed by her personality, which is no small feat if you know me at all.  I gravitated towards her, she made me laugh, she made my job so much easier, especially since it was my first waitressing job and I really didn't know what I was doing at all.

who else but a best friend would make sure your butt was good on your wedding day?

When I clued into her name, Estelle, I may have laughed out loud and said, "Oh you're Estelle, oh ok." I then proceeded to giggle some more since I knew a story about her.  I mean I grew up in a small town, my bestie's ex once came by our place to brag to us how he was dating this girl Estelle, my bestie and I being judgey teenagers laughed and said to each other, "Oh what is she 90?" because Estelle is not a very common first name, not even in my day! I told Estelle this story then too, and she clarified for me that she had never dated the ex, but had hung out with him as friends.  To this day we still laugh about that! It's funny how certain stories stick.

So not only is Estelle a truly vibrant and happy person, she's loyal, she's generous, she's loving, she's just truly amazing!

Estelle and I have a similar story, we are young moms, we have three children, we are both very much about being true to our girlfriends, I'm sure we came up with the 'chicks before dicks' saying to contract all the 'bros before hoes' sayings we had encountered. We are both romantics at heart, we love a good love story, but we also have realistic expectations!

Over the course of 17 years Estelle has been one of my constant friends, I couldn't imagine my life without her.  We've never really argued or had a fight, I mean one time she may have got mad because I was beaking some girl at the bar and the girl thought she was me.  Not sure why people always thought we were twins, but there were worst people I could have been mistaken for!! Her girls are very much my nieces, I love them to pieces and her son is my first nephew.  I would do anything for her and her family.  My door is always open to them and they each have a special area in my heart!

Estelle has always defended my honour and character when people have made comments that attack who I am.  I know I can always count on her for that, and I know that Estelle will always have my back, I know that Estelle will always help me out with my family and that my kids are her nephews and just an extension of her natural family!

Estelle is definitely one of those girls in my life who have become a sister of my heart! I love her as much as I love my sister and we may not always agree on everything but she is my sister from another mister!! And I can only hope that her girls become just like her and that my boys use her as another role model of the type of woman they want to end up with!