Thursday, March 9, 2006

Babycakes, I love you

There have been many people in my life who have given me strength and support, through good times and bad. I love these people with all my heart and I am thankful for their constancy and stalwart strength with which I draw upon. There are many to mention, but for the purposes of this post, I will speak of one who speaks volumes and whom I am indebted to for life.

Anne-Marie (aka Annie) and I met back in 1999 while in Montreal during the Black & Blue Festival. We met through other mutual friends who now form a Core group of closely knit friends, that we fondly refer to as the Cottage Crew. Annie and I, quickly became friends. Her beautiful smile and warm heart drew me to her and we were instantly connected. I was 26 and finding my way in life and decided to move in with Annie and her other roommate in 2000. Their third roomie was leaving so I was filling in a gap. As we became closer, our relationship intensified and we spent all our time together. She was my Grace and I was her Will. We knew every intimate detail about each other and could understand each other without a word. Sometimes it was comical, and sometimes it was tragically dysfunctional, but our friendship was always infinite and absolute.

When I discovered my HIV status in June 2002, she was my rock. There are many others who were there as well, namely the Joy Luck Club whom I also am indebted to for life. That is another intensely personal relationship that I will have to save for another day. Annie was working for the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research (CANFAR) at the time and the news hit her hard, but she still stood by me and allowed me to grieve and cry on her shoulder.

As time progressed we became even closer and it is now a relationship that I find difficult to express in words. There are no words that can do it justice. There is an understanding and a compassion there that we both share. I am her Monkey and she is my Babycakes. It will never change. It can only grow stronger.

Babycakes, I love you and will always be there for you as you have always been there for me.

18 comments:

epicurist said...

By the way, this serves as my Half Nekkid Thursday contribution as well. :)

Happy HNT!

St. Dickeybird said...

Friends like that are worth ANYTHING.
:)
I mean loyal ones, not breasty ones...

Anonymous said...

ah bless! what a beautiful tribute. ::sniffle::

dantallion said...

A brilliant tribute to an obviously deserving friend. I'd say you're lucky to have found each other.

Snooze said...

I just love posts about enduring friendships. Smiles.

JM said...

Everyone should have a friend like her. I'm so thankful that I have my very own friend like that--it could be misconstrued as dysfunctional, but to me it's everything.
God Bless her.

mainja said...

very nice. if i were here that would have made me cry. oh hell, who am i kidding, it made my cry anyway...

Marc said...

Awww...that was sweet. You're looking quite handsome there.

tornwordo said...

I hope she reads your blog! Very nice testament to a good friend. I've got one too, and I can't imagine my life without her - even thought she's now on the other side of the continent.

Anonymous said...

Monkey - I love you too... Ditto to all your sentiments... you are my rock! I am glad that the great people on your blog are getting to know how truly wonderful you are! Babycakes

No one asked us said...

I appreciate the sentiment. I feel the same way about my good friends.

Anonymous said...

Stop it! *sniff* You old softy *sniff* God...now my mascara is running. Hell! Raccoon time again.
Big bear hugs to both of you my dear.
kb

Tay Hota said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Tay Hota said...

friendships like that are what it's all about... congrats on your mention with "best gay blogs." I agree with them on that one...

Doghigh said...

I am SO late on posting this comment.

That was a really beautiful post.

So many people take the important relationships in their life for granted (I have been guilty of this).

It is incredibly moving to see you express just what she means to you (even if words are not adequate to describe your relationship you've captured the emotion involved quite well). A great tribute to your friend for sure, but yet again also sheds more light on the person that you are.

Thank you for sharing this.

epicurist said...

Hi All,

Thanks for the messages and emails. It's nice to know that so many were touched by this. We all need an Annie in our lives, and I'm glad I have the original ;-p

Sorry for the group message, but I ma crazy busy this week with work, and won't be able to do Individual responses until later. Cheers!

myke said...

lovely post, epi.

and has anyone ever told you that you're very photogenic?

Anonymous said...

Hey, did Anne-marie visit a friend of hers in India called Brent Patterson in 2000? If she's the same Anne-marie who did, then i probably know her...I was Brents flat-mate, and we travelled around to jaipur together, it was fun. It would be so serendipitous if your Anne-marie was the same as mine!

my email is sameer at thebrandnewco dot com