Star of the Week: Susan!

Hey there Gold Star Revolution Squad! It's Gold Star Friday, which means that it is time to announce our #staroftheweek!

Future Stars of the Week will be chosen from reader nominations! But since we are at the beginning of this project, I will be the one nominating our Friday Star of the Week until the time when nominations from readers start to roll in. Please send me your nominations, and please see the end of this post for more details on the nomination process!

This week, I am honoring one of my longest-standing and dearest friendships. I am thrilled to present this week's Star of the Week award to someone I truly consider to be my family, my friend Susan.

Susan and I met a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. We first connected back in 1991, which means that next year, we will have been friends for 30 years!

We met in law school when we were randomly assigned to be dorm suitemates. We spent many hours in law school avoiding studying and watching Thirtysomething together! 😂 (Does anyone remember that show??)

There are so many reasons why Susan deserves a gold star! For starters, I am super appreciative of the fact that Susan and I both happen to be living in the same city right now. It's a pretty strange coincidence considering that I am from Pennsylvania and that I had never lived in the south prior to moving to North Carolina. Susan is from NC originally, but she grew up about 2 hours away from where we are now.

I think it is rare for people who have moved around a bit as adults to be in close physical proximity to friends that they made relatively early in life. Being able to spend quality time with an old friend on a regular basis is something that I absolutely treasure.

And even though Susan and I have been friends for almost three decades, I don't think we've ever had a disagreement. You might think that can't be true, but I'm pretty sure she'll back me up on this one! I find it easy to be around her in a way that I don't experience with a lot of other people. When you find someone who is effortless to be around, it's a real blessing!

I also very much appreciate that Susan and I had the opportunity to further strengthen our already rock solid friendship starting back in November 2018 when Susan was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her treatment was seriously complicated by the fact that she had two tumors in different quadrants of the same breast.

In those days, I was working mainly on the weekends running my walking tour business. Luckily, that meant that I had the freedom and flexibility during the week to accompany Susan to all of her doctor's appointments. And there were a lot of them given the complexity of her case. She and I like to joke about meeting with her 20th-opinion doctor, whose name I can't even remember now!

Susan had a totally amazing attitude when she was going through her cancer treatment. It made me think about how I would have acted if I were in her position. I doubt that I could be as positive and upbeat as she was through such a very trying time. I truly appreciated having the opportunity to witness her grace and courage during that period.

I am happy to say that Susan has been cancer free since her original surgery! I think it is only fitting for her to be our first Star of the Week in the month of October, which is breast cancer awareness month. Ladies, if you haven't had your annual mammogram this year, I encourage you to do it! I know this year has been crazy, but it's important!

As I'm sure you've noticed by now if you've read any of my prior Star of the Week posts, I require a lot of laughter, silliness, and frivolity in my life! Well, Susan is definitely up to the task, more so than most, if not all, of my other friends. She loves to laugh and joke, so much so that many times that's all we end up doing when we get together.

Sometimes we spend hours upon hours in each other's company, and, at the end, I have no idea what we talked about for all that time. I laugh so hard and have so much fun that I totally lose all track of time. I don't know too many people I can say that about. We have inside jokes between us that we have been carrying on for almost 30 years now, and they never get old, ha ha! 🤣

Susan would do karaoke at the drop of a hat! Many people I know in our esteemed age group would be too embarrassed or self-conscious to participate, but I love that Susan doesn't hesitate to put herself out there. The fact that she can sing doesn't hurt! And if you need someone to get out on the dance floor with you, she'll do that as well!

Much like I discussed with respect to my friend Lori a few weeks ago, Susan has an amazing left/right brain balance. She is a very analytical, logical person, but she is also a creative, imaginative person who has a knack for drawing. She even did a bit of acting back in our law school days. I'm so grateful to have such well-rounded friends!

Susan is a great listener and is happy to help when problem solving is needed. If there ever happens to be a time when I need something in the middle of the night somewhere down the line, I would not hesitate to contact her.

Susan is a very loyal, wonderful friend, and I am so glad that she is in my corner! I am happy to present the Star of the Week award to Susan! Congratulations my friend!

And, finally, it's time for our Gold Star of the Week photo. I am including more than one this week because Susan is just that special! I added the first one even though I don't think it's a very flattering one of me because I know how much she likes it. That's how much I love her! 🥰😍

Please join me in congratulating Susan as our Star of the Week!

Would you like to nominate yourself or someone you care about to be our next Star of the Week?  To read the rules about the nomination process and get more information about the free gift that U.S. winners will receive, please click here.  Then submit the Nomination Form!