1. The Katie and Christa Years

Seriously, those were the best.

Before I started working at the UBC AC I had met Christa very briefly one time at some sort of a workshop - an NLS recert examiner's clinic, or something like that, I think.

I had been working for a few of the municipal pools, but wasn't getting the hours or recognition that I wanted from them, so decided to give up my shifts and spend the summer doing nothing but contract work (full circle now). Contract work is abundant in the summer months, but I was worried it was going to dry up come September and wasn't really sure what to do. Then Nicole pointed out a job posting for the Head Lifeguard position at UBC. I was teaching an NLS course in North Van at the time, and asked the programmer there if I could use their fax machine to send off my resume (which, which I looked at it years later, was terrible) for the job. Later that very night I saw Christa on the pool deck with her water polo team. She came over and asked what I was teaching, and I told her NLS. She asked if I was interested in teaching courses at UBC, and I said funny thing, I just applied for the Head Guard job there. She said, oh, you must be Katie! So we chatted for a while about the job, and I asked her to put in a good word. A few days later I got a call for the interview, and needless to say, I got the job. I found out later that since my resume was so terrible (not my experience, but my actual resume) they weren't going to bother contacting me. But Christa went back to them and said she had met me and I seemed really keen and passionate, so they decided to give me a call after all. Thanks Xta!!!

So I started working there, and immediately Christa and I started getting along famously. I remember the early days one of us would pull out a bottle of lotion and the other would go, "oooh! I use that one too!!" and then one of us would talk about heading to a yoga class, and the other would go, "yay! I do yoga too!!". And so it began. I have never worked with anyone else who I saw so completely eye to eye on how things should be done. We were a team, Christa and I, no doubt about that. We understood that the workload was shared, and when one of us was bogged down, the other would step in and help out. We taught courses together and each complimented the others teaching and evaluation style. When I threw my back out and couldn't stand up straight, Christa came and helped teach my NLS class in North Van. We amused ourselves by terrorizing the swim coaches together (I so miss those Steve and Derrick days). We bartered tasty food for jewellery making. We brought out each others inner crafter - Christa taught me to knit at work, and once I got the knitting bug we would regularly 'compromise the integrity of the facility' (according to our then manager) by knitting under our desks, in the classroom, on our breaks . . . it was good times. Christa is also one of the small handful of people I've met in my life who I have always felt I could talk to about anything, anytime, without any judgement whatsoever. It's a real gift to find that in a friend and a coworker.

I was sad when the Katie and Christa years ended, but she needed to move on, I understood that. I'm so glad we've remained friends, even though we don't see each other quite so often anymore. Christa has stayed a source of inspiration in my life, and seeing her leave the good benefits and regular paycheque life of the UBC AC and enter into the unreliable realms of contract work and self employment and succeed, helped me make the decision to take the plunge myself.

Thanks Christa, you rule! Real hard!

(and she really liked working with me too!)