Day 295- Jan. 13- Sabrina Landry and Amelie Drolet

I first met Sabrina and Amelie when they were nurses back in the early 2010's in George River. They were the first nurses I actually got to know enough to want to hang out with. Usually teachers and nurses are both super busy, they often have very separate existences within a community. Teacher spend so much time during the day working and staying in the school bubble and tend to get out mostly on weekends. Nurses can be busy any time of the day or night, they are often on call, or backing each other up in cases that there are unexpected emergencies. They are sometimes working late hours in the nights or weekends. Due to their intense schedules, they often work on a two or three month rotation with other nurses, which added to the lack of opportunities I had prior to knowing these two for social interactions with nurses.

Sabrina and Amelie were not your typical nurses either, they hosted potluck suppers and invited lots of colleagues and their friends. I think that's how our friendship was cemented. They introduced me to a "Quebec delicacy", and no I don't mean poutine. Ironically I never really hear of many Maritimers making it, despite the availability of the fresh ingredients. They hosted a whole bunch of us for a seafood pizza party. Man was that stuff ever tasty- like any other pizza the crust is standard, then a bechamel replaces the tomato sauce, seafood added as toppings, and then a nice layer of mozzarella cheese browned on the top. I'm sure there was some other secret to it, but it's been so long since I had it that it escapes me right now, however that stuff was DELICIOUS! 

We enjoyed many delicious meals, some snowshoe hikes, and I even had the chance to meet up with Sabrina a few times in Montreal too. Sabrina generously introduced me to many fun places to go out and many new experiences to explore. I think she single handedly made me fall in love with Montreal and all the wonderful things and people it has to offer. Instead of always stopping in MTL for a single night on my way north to GR or south to NS, I started enjoying taking a few days or a week to explore and get to know the city better. We wrote some pretty hilarious stories together from my visits. Some of those visits still make me laugh out loud when I think about our crazy escapades!

Sabrina taught me how to both work hard and also how to take care of myself more, to take breaks and to pamper myself. She dragged me to try have a spa day on one visit to MTL. I have to admit I would've never planned that on my own, due to my perpetual fear of laughing and being ticklish during massages, but it was a great time. 

Last week I was excited to see that after a couple of years of hiatus and a wedding, Amelie has now come back to GR to fulfill her role of nurse. I unexpectedly ran into her and her husband out on a walk on a particularly buggy day in the first weeks of September and it made me happy to see her back. We see so many people come and go in different capacities and jobs that it's nice to see some return again.

Song of the moment: Hercules by Sara Bareilles