Portrait

trace, beautiful and happy, as always.

once upon a time, when i threw the name ‘tracy’ into a sentence, everyone knew there was only one tracy in the world for me. no one had to ask ‘which tracy is this again?’. no one had to say ‘what’s this tracy’s last name?’. everyone knew. trace is my soul sister, my best friend. she looks like she belongs on a ramp, she acts like she’s 12, gives advice like an omniscent, and parties like a true animal. some of the best memories i have of my life over about the last 6 or 7 years are of the times trace and i have spent together : dancing, talking, eating. we’ve stuck through bad (like the time we went to watch ‘up in lights’, a musical produced by visaka vidyalaya, at which the two of us sat and held on to each other so tight, stunned into a silence even devoid of snide remarks and bitchy comments, it was that bad) and good (like that time we were going somewhere, and we were walking past wafflers and we knew we just had to go in and have a waffle drowned in chocolate fudge). we’ve stuck through tough (all the break-ups, the make-ups, the finding out shocking truths about your significant other at 3 am in the morning, and having entire conversations in whispers over the phone trying to calm each other down) and fun (like that time we all went to h20 and trace and i almost completely ignored everyone else while we danced till we couldn’t anymore). everyone around us has gotten used to ‘us’, no one ever says our names independently of the other, and if i’m somewhere without her, i am bound to get asked ‘where’s trace?’, we get invited to things together and when she’s here, we almost never do anything without the other. i’m expected to know how she is and what she’s doing and the exact date and time of her flights here and back. it’s like being married, and even better because, at the risk of sounding over sentimental, she’s perfect.

tracy, at home on a leisurely sunday afternoon.

there came a time then, that this other amazing woman came to be a part of my life. and her name, you ask? lo and behold, it is tracy. i love her, and admire her and have found big respect for her and everything she does. she is just one of those people you know you can trust, the kind of person who will never make you feel intimidated or uncomfortable, no matter how little you know her. and when you really get down to it, she’s always full of life and great ideas. she has this addictive laid-back attitude towards life and all it’s idiosyncracies. she’s got passion and zest and energy, and charisma to go with all of that. whether you’ve seen her being a nail-biting wreck of a director on the opening night of ‘fefu and her friends’, behind the majestic lights board looking hot and bothered and yet so pretty last weekend at barefoot during ‘looking thru my earphones’, onstage for jehan aloysius’ ‘the ritual’ giving a jaw-dropping performance, or leading the ladies’ college students into a clean victory at the annual all island inter school shakespeare drama competition last year, she’s the kind of person you want to know. she can easily bring out the very best of any cast she’s working with, and demandingly, yet sensitively, veers any production she touches into absoloute success. she teaches with knowledge that outdoes almost every other teacher i’ve encountered, an enthusiasm that’s contagious and a sort of patience that relaxes yet drives everyone. she’s got two fantastic (and fantastically cute) children, around whom she looks simultaneously irritated and happy. she’s by far the nicest thing that my advanced level exam brought about to my life.

here’s to the tracys (or traci, as some would say) in my life. here’s to all the marvellous ways in which they have changed my life, and all the ways in which they will continue to do so.