Soon I will be reunited with the Thelma to my Louise, the Abbi to my Ilana.
This time next month, I will have driven to Kamloops to pick my best friend up at the airport.
Together we made the trek across the country so I could start a new chapter in my life. He drove, he made sure I got settled in and he was the last person I said goodbye to. The last few hours of our time together were bittersweet. The car ride was quiet because we knew it was going to be sometime before we could see each other again.
He was nervous and I was terrified. I don’t think either of us was capable of being away from one another for this long, but we didn’t have a choice. We had gone from being inseparable to being separated by 3,840.8 kilometres, according to Google.
Almost four months later, I am grateful to say he will be the first to see this new life I am living. It has been tough, being so far away, but after three months it has become relatively easier.
The solution is Facetime.
I am so excited to see my best friend I could pee. From the moment I pick him up to the playlist, I have specifically curated for our time together - some serious dancing is about to happen.
The plan is to spend a night here in 100 Mile before we catch our flight for a desert getaway in Palm Springs.
Together we have been to Los Angeles twice, during the first trip we spent a weekend in Palm Springs and it effortlessly became one of our favourite oases.
Palm Springs is often known as the place people go to retire, but with an influx of millennials and other younger generations, it has become a popular destination to vacation - thanks to the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.
You would think, someone who will be turning 24, would want to go back to LA for the nightlife, Melrose Avenue and luxurious food but I’m like an old man trapped in a 20-year-old’s body. I fell in love over the city’s midcentury modern architecture that favourably blends in with the desert. I want to be surrounded by canyons, palm trees and the occasional cactus.
I can already see myself by the pool with bottomless margaritas while the desert sun beams down on my ghostly white body… ah, what a life.
The best part of the entire trip is that I will not only be in the company of my best friend but another I hold dear to my heart. After I left Windsor for British Columbia, my friend left for LA - packing everything up, like I did and hit the road. At times, it feels like we are on the same adventure but separated by a border.
It’s new, scary and exciting all at the same time. We have been there for each other a lot over the last couple of months and it will be so soul-stirring to be reunited for a few days.
I need this. I could care less about the fact I am going to Palm Springs, it’s more so about spending the time with two very close friends of mine.
I can’t wait and when I come back, I will be refreshed, reenergized, sunburnt and ready to get back to work.