About 10 years ago Mary Jac was just my Mom’s hair colorist. She had white and pink hair and a shaved head and topped it off with various facial piercings. 

One day my Mom went in and MJ seemed upset, after some gentle prodding she told Mama Nord that she was being evicted from her apartment due to negligence from a roommate not paying rent. The story goes that without another thought, my Mom told MJ to come live with us for a while.

Fast forward 7 years and MJ was still living with us, not because she needed to but because she had become more like a sister than a stranger. Now my Mom has moved up to New York and MJ has her own place down in Georgia, but today is her birthday and I can’t help but wish we were all going to be sitting around our kitchen table tonight drinking wine, listening to 80’s music and celebrating.