Gregarious Colleen

Buddyship (stolen word from the Curious George Movie in case you're wondering) is something that happened between Colleen and I about 13 summers ago.
I was at Arlington Beach, working as part of the summer staff, running down the road south of the Lodge. (It was the break in the day where you've just finished lunch dishes but have yet to clean the bathrooms just to give you even more extraneous information!)
It was somewhere on that road that I saw Colleen. She was wearing a long flowing skirt, carrying a guitar, and had crazy curls and a smile on her face. I liked her immediately.
Later that week I was introduced to her and we had a brief conversation where she used the word "gregarious". She threw it into a sentence like it was a dash of salt. This word, so common place to her, was new to me and I not only looked it up - I added it to my own lexicon of cool and quirky adjectives.
Since that first meeting our friendship has grown into kindred meetings at the lake and visits that often cut straight to the heart.
One of the great things about this upcoming tour, for me, will be to spend time with Colleen and connect with her as we drive to and from shows and places on the tour.