Jannie and I have been playing life tag for the past year since she moved to NYC. I’ve been there twice since but she was in LA. When I was in LA she was in New York. So on this unseasonably cold night in Toronto we braved the elements to embrace our same-citiness and eat some Mexican food, naturally.

Our fifteen year friendship can be credited to yet another city, Halifax, though in truth we didn’t know each when we both lived there. But there’s that thing where we are all tied by either mutual friendships or relationships and experiences. Jannie and I go deep through all of the above. But I think it’s another bond that has kept us together. We’re cut from a very similar cloth, both good and bad. We can share in our struggles as well as our successes in an easy way which allows for year long breaks without missing a beat.

That all said, Jannie has a special thing I will never have. And in meeting, everything I remember and love falls into place. She always has a fabulous handbag. The kind you don’t just admire visually, you need to understand it. Her drink orders are always specialized and she asks bartenders a lot of questions. Her day has always been filled up with appointments I don’t understand and purchases I’ve never heard of in areas of town I’ve never been to. She knows what she likes and what she wants. Her taste is absolute and never wavers. It sounds simple but it’s quite rare in my experience.

So somewhere between her custom ordered Micheladas and knowledgeably selected Mascel we caught up on our lives. She told me she is finally doing exactly what she wants to be doing. Uprooting her life, selling her house and moving to New York to basically get paid for her taste was the right choice. I can’t stress how thrilling that news is. I always part ways with Jannie feeling a little bit more challenged and it sounds like in her new life she’s found that challenge too. Yay.