I would like to take a few moments to introduce not only my Ghana travel buddy but also my life long best friend. Now to put it in perspective Lindsay and I have known each other since kindergarten and, since the ripe old age of about 9, have been inseparable. I tell you this as both a wonderful fun fact and a disclaimer- Lindsay always says "You know two people are best friends when they are having way more fun that it makes sense for them to be having"- this is a daily occurrence so you will see lots of this, I promise! Lindsay grew up in rural Alberta and pretty much spent her childhood on a dirt bike in the bush... which explains all of the developmental delays she has. JUST KIDDING! Although she doesn't support the fact that I really like cats and baking so maybe I am on to something! Lindsay is very determined. I learned this when I was about 10 or 11 and her mom took us to Boston Pizza after attending a craft fair all afternoon. Naturally we were both starving and it was therefore in our best interest to order the special of the week which happened to be a 10 pound plate of pasta. Each. That is 20 pounds of pasta for all of you who aren't fond of math. After managing to coach ourselves through about 95% of our plates I came to the conclusion that I like food and Lindsay is full of determination. I honestly don't think we ate for days afterwards. Growing up Lindsay and I and a few of our friends were members of the local 4H club. There are so many things I could say about it but it would take years to read so to be succinct we learned how to public speak, how to catch greased pigs and the in's and out's of summer camp (and a million other things in between). Here we both learned how to train our dogs and this is where I discovered that Lindsay is a crazy dog lady. And I mean CRAZYYYYY dog lady. She loves her dog more than she loves just about anything else. On any given day I will receive at least one text message with pictures of her little dog Odie. And I'm not complaining, that little guy actually is pretty cute! Plus I helped name him so I'm pretty much his Godmother. In High School Lindsay discovered that she was really interested in becoming a nurse. She headed off into nursing school and low and behold she loved it! I will admit that this didn't surprise me, our years of being summer camp councillors were proof enough. As most of the camp two stepped around the dance hall on our last night at camp you would always find Lindsay comforting the homesick kids just down the hall and finding ridiculous ways to make them laugh. If that wasn't enough she continued on with counselling for two summers at a camp dedicated to underprivileged and disabled kids. Talk about Mother Theresa! But in all seriousness Lindsay found her niche as a nurse and it is which EXTREME excitement that I get to announce that she will be my travel buddy as we experience the joys of global nursing and we gain undergraduate nursing experience in Ghana!!!
Seems as we decided to right each other’s bios, it gives me great pleasure to introduce one of my favorite people in the world. Kiri is her name, and talking to cats is her game. Seriously. I once received a video from her that consisted of one of her cats meowing… she was convinced that it sounded like he was saying hello. Yup. She’s one of THOSE people. Anyways, I met Kiri way back when our Grade 3 teacher put us together to work on a science project. So me, being the NORMAL nine year old I was, went over to Kiri's house one evening to work on the project. We worked on the project for about 15 minutes, before she asked if I wanted to see her science tray. To make a long story short, I went home 3 hours later completely traumatized because she made me dissect bugs and freeze them in vinegar, so that we could "bring them back to life one day." I told my mom she was a freak... little did I know, I'd become best friends with said freak.
I’m very happy that we managed to overcome the bug incident, because I couldn’t imagine life without Kiri. Who else would steal all my clothes and take me on shortcuts that end up turning a 15 minute drive into a 2 hour adventure? Who else would make me go backpacking so we can celebrate her 18th birthday on top of a mountain? Who else would convince me that going to the midnight premiere of the Hunger Games movie is an excellent way to spend a Thursday night when I had to be up at 5am the next day? Clearly, Kiri is very good at convincing people to do ridiculous things. She’s headstrong; when she puts her mind to something, it gets done. Whether this is buying matching onesies or applying to nursing school, whatever she decides to do always seems to happen. Which is why I got REALLY excited when we started talking about Ghana.
So who is Kiri? Kiri is a typical farm kid, having grown up surrounded by the animal kingdom. She once tried to turn her pet hamster named Alfonso into a "woodland creature" (It didn't end well. He escaped from his hamster ball in the backyard and was never seen again). Kiri can't handle Taylor Swift songs, but has seen her perform live twice. She is a lifeguard that refuses to wear a life jacket; a future nurse who won't wear a helmet. She's convinced her Norwegian bloodlines will prevent her from getting sunburns (despite that we have proved this fact wrong numerous times now). Her go-to meal is an everything bagel with cream cheese from Tim Hortons.
One thing that I believe everyone should know about Kiri is that she is the most sarcastically compassionate person I’ve ever met. It is honestly one of my favorite traits about her. She tells it like it is, but has a huge heart. One time I woke up to about a dozen text messages of a baby deer that she found in her shed. It had gotten caught in some barbed wire fencing and sustained some serious injuries to it’s abdomen. Kiri was convinced that we could suture Bambi up and nurse him back to health. Wildlife control ultimately had to step in on that one, but Kiri’s soft spot for creatures carries on. After a terrible accident left her dog’s back legs paralyzed, she refused to give up on him, administering shots of morphine and dealing with the life-altering effects of paralysis. I can say with certainty that she will make an amazing nurse one day, because of her tenacity to tackle tough challenges with incredible spirit. It is for these reasons that I'm SO EXCITED announce that I will be embarking with Kiri on the adventure of a lifetime in Ghana.
I’m very happy that we managed to overcome the bug incident, because I couldn’t imagine life without Kiri. Who else would steal all my clothes and take me on shortcuts that end up turning a 15 minute drive into a 2 hour adventure? Who else would make me go backpacking so we can celebrate her 18th birthday on top of a mountain? Who else would convince me that going to the midnight premiere of the Hunger Games movie is an excellent way to spend a Thursday night when I had to be up at 5am the next day? Clearly, Kiri is very good at convincing people to do ridiculous things. She’s headstrong; when she puts her mind to something, it gets done. Whether this is buying matching onesies or applying to nursing school, whatever she decides to do always seems to happen. Which is why I got REALLY excited when we started talking about Ghana.
So who is Kiri? Kiri is a typical farm kid, having grown up surrounded by the animal kingdom. She once tried to turn her pet hamster named Alfonso into a "woodland creature" (It didn't end well. He escaped from his hamster ball in the backyard and was never seen again). Kiri can't handle Taylor Swift songs, but has seen her perform live twice. She is a lifeguard that refuses to wear a life jacket; a future nurse who won't wear a helmet. She's convinced her Norwegian bloodlines will prevent her from getting sunburns (despite that we have proved this fact wrong numerous times now). Her go-to meal is an everything bagel with cream cheese from Tim Hortons.
One thing that I believe everyone should know about Kiri is that she is the most sarcastically compassionate person I’ve ever met. It is honestly one of my favorite traits about her. She tells it like it is, but has a huge heart. One time I woke up to about a dozen text messages of a baby deer that she found in her shed. It had gotten caught in some barbed wire fencing and sustained some serious injuries to it’s abdomen. Kiri was convinced that we could suture Bambi up and nurse him back to health. Wildlife control ultimately had to step in on that one, but Kiri’s soft spot for creatures carries on. After a terrible accident left her dog’s back legs paralyzed, she refused to give up on him, administering shots of morphine and dealing with the life-altering effects of paralysis. I can say with certainty that she will make an amazing nurse one day, because of her tenacity to tackle tough challenges with incredible spirit. It is for these reasons that I'm SO EXCITED announce that I will be embarking with Kiri on the adventure of a lifetime in Ghana.