I haven’t actually known Ariel that long. In fact, it hasn’t even been a whole year since she was born, but she’s already one of the shining lights in my life. The first born child of my favourite brother and awesome sister-in-law, Ariel (born a full two and a half months ahead of you, Sebastian) is the beloved first baby of the new generation of our family. Thank goodness she was born first. For a few reasons really. First, it gave your dad and I a chance to focus on the little person that she was. To get to...

The exact circumstances of the first meeting between Candace and I totally escape me. My memory is terrible at the best of times and, now that I get to party all night with you, Sebastian, my glorious little non-sleeper, we shall probably look back on these as ‘the happy-foggy years’. Maybe Candace remembers, so we’ll ask her someday–but introductions aside, Candace and I have known each other for many years now and funny thing: this is actually our 4th go round of friendship. The first time we were friends was in early high school when we both attended O’Neill Collegiate. I lived...

Pammy and I go way back, but we came together in the weirdest way. We met at a Procter & Gamble popup salon: I needed my roots done and was walking over to Mark’s old office at Yonge and Bloor, when I found myself outside a salon that had sprung up overnight and was giving hair colour as a promotion. I’ve always had trouble resisting a crazy deal (and maybe I was feeling more adventurous than usual) so I stepped inside the salon in desperate need (these were the days before ombre was a thing) and met my hair’s saviour: Pam. About an hour...

As you might guess: Uncle Brett and I have been best friends since I was 2 and a half. Essentially, we’ve known each other since the day he was born. Prior to that day, I believe I was a happy only child: living the good life, comfortably spoiled with doting parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. Then Mr. Brett decided to make an appearance on the scene. I pretty much liked him from the beginning (although he had this defence mechanism where he’d scream this seriously loud, high pitched scream if I was bugging him too much–it was like those crazy African bugs...

  Sierra is an awesome sport and an amazing human that I met relatively recently on this journey. When I was pregnant with you I began to frequent Facebook’s “mommy groups”, which ranged from informative to eye-opening to downright deranged. I hadn’t quite realized what I was getting into until I joined these secret groups and first saw the very dark, frightening underbelly of mommyhood. The only thing I had in common with many of these other mommies was that we had a baby due in July. That was it. And boy, let me tell you: there were entire...

Christa and I met at the old Four Seasons tearoom…or was it the lobby at One King West? Obviously, my memory of the exact location is blurred, but I remember Christa vibrantly. The publishers of my magazine had asked her to come in for an interview. She had a degree in journalism and a history of working in unrelated jobs. She was from Florida, spoke fluent German, was into the culinary arts, and was at once shy and hot-headed, funny and sweet. She, Joe and I made an awesome team. We spent countless days and nights debating the appropriate usage...

I know Joanne from high school and over the years we’ve stayed in touch through Facebook. She was part of the ‘Joanne, Joanne, Alex, and Amanda’ posse–they were all amazing and funny girls, awesome to hang out with. It’s sort of weird thinking back to this time, because sometimes I still feel like a high schooler. Often, in fact. I notice it most when I hang out with people who have teenaged kids, as I gravitate towards their humour, language, goss. It’s true, I’m the first one to abandon the adult room, preferring to play video games, talk about skateboarding,...