Shelley

Shelley, Me, Deb.

I met Shelley on my first night of yoga teacher training.  I am not sure what brought us together, perhaps it was simply circumstance or perhaps it was predetermined fate.  It wasn't until after we became pals that I learned she likes running, dogs, and muscle failure about as much as I do.  I think I just instantly felt safe around her, perhaps because she is happily married, or perhaps because I felt like our similar occupations and passion for suffering put us in the same state of mind most days.  Much later I found out that her birthday is one day after mine, further cementing our bond as fellow Scorpios.  Since then we've shared quite a few workouts, far too many text messages, and an endless supply of laughs.  Supporting each other through the challenges life throws at both of us, we've reached a pleasant stage of relating where we can both be ourselves, we can talk about all sorts of things, and none of it is weird or remotely boring.

Last weekend I decided a good way to end my 3 or 4 week stretch of not running would be a trail marathon with the yogger.  As I could have predicted, but didn't actually bother thinking about, I had a solid meltdown at 21 and had to walk it in over the majority of the last 10k, through some freezing rain.  I found my way back to the car, 22oz of water and almost 5 hours after leaving it, only to find the yogger legitimately worried after doing the math and assuming I had been eaten by a cougar.  The yogger's baby mama showed some massive patience with that one, ooops, sorry we got back so late.  But that was Saturday.  Sunday, I felt that I deserved another round of yogger beatdown, so I met up with him and Dr. Evil for a half marathon recovery yog.  Normal people do normal things at this point in the weekend, but not being normal I had no such plans.  I promptly grabbed for my phone and started the relentless banter that lead to me picking up Shelley for back to back yoga classes to round out the afternoon. Because a true friend is one who plays up to your stupid decisions rather than asking you to chill out.

Me (11/7), Shelley (11/8), Jamie (11/7)

A funny story about Shelley is the basis for the nickname I gave her during teacher training:  Super Seated Shelley.  This nickname was not earned from sitting around, it was earned from repeated goofs calling just about every pose in the series "chair pose".  "Inhale, chair" she would typically say, raising her hands to indicate tadasana.  Some days, Natarajasana would be named chair, other days it was tree. Somehow, Shelley seemed immune from any name mixups that didn't involve chair, it was as if that word was her go-to word when she wasn't sure what was going on.  I was so tempted to whittle her a doll sized mini chair to commemorate all of this but never found the time to be so obnoxious.  I also thought about drawing a superhero comic with a cape, of a wonder-woman type seated in a rocking chair with arms lifted high and pinkies rotated in.  Inhale, chair, exhale, chair, wherever you are, just go into chair and hold it there for 5 breaths!

Last weekend was great, absolute vintage Dave and Shelley silliness, but I suppose one of the most memorable days of our friendship was the morning we held a special class for our boot camp instructors on the Sunday we had off between our two weeks of voluntary misery.  Not only did we go shopping for "youth miss" referee costumes, and not only did we keep the 6am pre-dawn schedule going, but we uncorked a level of idiocy into that morning which brought the six of us who shared the experience closer together.

Sometimes friendship is as much about those singular, undefinable, completely unplanned moments as it is about the more obvious support and encouragement tearjerker ones.  Sometimes friendship blossoms by encouraging each other's silly side.  Sometimes being a great friend means celebrating and even egging on all of those odd quirks that make each one of us unique.

Shelley, you have earned your space in my heart and I deeply appreciate all of the warmth you bring into my world.