Bridget Carol Shuffield, that name alone makes my whole being smile. We met in Little Rock, Arkansas. She was from San Diego, California, so of course being from Santa Barbara, she and I became fast friends. I can say she is still one of my very best friends, we have a very special bond that I can’t yet even begin to formulate into words.  

One night I had decided to go to a bar with my then-boyfriend, he was meeting a group of his high school friends. I was the only female in the group so I just drank my beer and was daydreaming of what it would be like if the whole world had a power outage. I was mildly annoyed that the guys were watching football on TV and yelling profanities as if the people on the screen could even hear them. As the night progressed, I made an honest effort to figure out why the fascination with these teams and why the sport was so important to the male species. When I get a tap on my right shoulder, I turn around and I see a beautiful blonde woman with blue eyes. Before I can say anything, this woman grabs my face and gives me a giant kiss on the lips. Then swiftly walked off without saying a word. The entire group of guys we were with started to cheer, hoot, and holler. Immediately people were asking me what the hell had just happened, and if I knew who that person was. I had never seen her in my life. 

The following day I went to work, I pulled into my usual parking spot behind the building of the clinic I worked at and walked in the back door to my room. When I switched on the lights there was a tiny little puppy sitting in the corner, he almost looked like a stuffed animal. I picked him up and held him close and walked to the front lobby to find out where this little creature had come from. Days earlier I spotted puppies for sale on the side of the road and begged my boyfriend to buy one, he said “Absolutely not”. But this seemed like a sign from the universe, that this dog belonged to me. The girls in the front lobby had no idea where he came from. I looked outside in the parking lot I saw the blonde woman from the bar the night before, frantically looking between and under parked cars. I walked outside holding the furball and she came over and said “There you are little buddy!!!!” She came and tried to pry the puppy out of my arms but I explained to her that this was my puppy now, she laughed and said there was no way she could give me the dog, that her small kids were attached to him and she had just received him as a very expensive birthday present from her husband. Regretfully I handed the puppy over and walked back into the clinic. My coworker Kimzey said, “Oh you know crazy Bridget?!” I told her I did not but I recounted what happened at the bar the night before, and she just responded with “Yeah that sounds about right”. I was feeling crushed and couldn’t stop thinking about the sweet puppy and its bizarre owner, Bridget. A week later when I came out of session, Kimzey informed me that Bridget was trying to rehome the puppy. An hour later I was the proud owner of that sweet poodle mix that would be my co-pilot for the next 15 years.

Bridget knew everybody, she started introducing me to so many other transplants that landed in Little Rock. Anytime we were together the entire day would fly by, we could never finish exchanging stories of what life was like in California and how lame and superficial people from Arkansas can come off as. We were bonded almost immediately. 

She invited me to a cookout in the middle of nowhere at her house. Besides Kimzey, she was the only other friend of mine who had children. When I pulled up at her house with my dog, I could hear a commotion going on in the backyard. Children were squealing and jumping on a giant trampoline. Bridget’s father, an older gentleman in a thick New England accent was cursing at a makeshift bonfire while trying to roll his own sage cigarette. Another dog was running around like crazy, Bridget’s husband Christian was hollering for the dog “Red!!!! You get over here!!!!” The dog must have gotten into the garbage, he took off like a bank robber. The children, Liam and Ella, were both saying “Mom! Mom! Come jump on the trampoline with us!” I will never forget, when Bridget abruptly stopped making the salad she was preparing for the cookout and ran outside to jump on the trampoline with her kids, they were laughing hysterically and they kept saying “Mom!!! I saw your underwear!!!” and she responded with “Ella, you should never tell a lie! I’m not wearing any!” We finally got the bonfire going and Bridget decided to throw their old Christmas tree they had used that winter. She was giggling, leaned over, and confided in me that she had stolen it from the Kroger up the street, her oldest child Liam overheard us and started crying… She got on his level and said “We borrowed it baby, that’s right though we should never steal!” 

That night I just remembered making a promise to myself that if I ever became a mother, I wanted to be the kind of mother Bridget is…

Anytime Bridget and I went anywhere we were always laughing so hard that we could hardly ever breath or even speak. One day we walked to a Mexican restaurant and sat on the patio, we ordered some food and a margarita, and the woman brought out our check because she thought that we had shown up there already intoxicated. She wanted us to tab out before the meal even arrived. We both rolled our eyes, paid the bill, left a tip bigger than the bill, and walked out to find a place to sit and chat. It wouldn’t be the last time people would tab us out, they would assume that we were on something, because we were just so gitty to be around each other and all of the sillies in my whole being came out when I was around her, it was addicting too! I hope everyone finds their version of my beloved Bridget, I feel sorry for people who go through life and don’t get to experience love at that level. 

I also stopped complimenting Bridget at a certain point, anytime I would say something like “Oh my gosh, I love your glasses, shirt, dress, shoes, or jewelry!” because every time without fail she would take it off and hand it over to me and say here you go it’s yours! EVERY TIME. Right off the bat, you could sense that Bridget was a younger sibling, she never had a problem sharing anything and everything she had. I love that she doesn’t form attachments to material things, she always looks stunning in anything she wears because of her captivating energy. 

Bridget is the kind of person who never discriminates, she loves so deeply, and if you are lucky enough to make it into her inner circle, you are in the gang for life! Today is her birthday, most of my dearest friends are either Leo’s or Aquarius’, she pointed that out to me once and it’s totally true! I need to stop writing or I will start to cry because I miss her so so so much!!!!! We haven’t seen each other since 2015! Bridget if you read this HAPPY BIRTHDAY YOU BEAUTIFUL SOUL!!!! I LOVE YOU!!!!!! I can not wait to see you again!