In any other circumstances, LaShanta and I would probably never have met. She lives in Houston, Texas and I’m 1,400 miles away in Maryland. Our schedules and personalities can be completely different and, yet, she’s one of the most inspirational and important people to me.

LaShanta and I met through the Rising Tide Society when we both helped to cover some responsibilities during the incredible Kait Masters’ maternity leave in late 2018/early 2019. I was super-intimidated by LaShanta at first — I had seen her name around RTS for so long and she came across as incredibly confident and on top of things and I was just trying to keep a Facebook group with 77,000 people in it afloat.

Quick work messages and emails quickly transformed into FaceTimes and phone calls. We make good use of the Marco Polo app and she has seen my 5am workout face, my noon frustrated face and now my super-insane Mom-in-quarantine-with-her-kids face.

She knows me SO well. She’s the type of person that watches you, gets to know you and understand you and gives you grace with your weaknesses and challenges and pushes you to do things you may hold yourself back from doing. She’s the best cheerleader I’ve ever had. LaShanta is also insanely considerate.

When I mentioned last year to LaShanta (we weren’t even officially working together anymore!) that my family was participating in the National Down Syndrome Society’s Buddy Walk in New York City she wanted to know so much about it. (Sidenote: I love so much how LaShanta asks great questions about Zach and Down syndrome so that she can be better educated about it). Then, she asked about maybe coming out TO NEW YORK CITY for the Buddy Walk and then coming back to Maryland to hang at the Zook Zoo for a few days. This was a woman who had never met me or my family in person and lived more than a thousand miles away AND was going through some tricky personal things at the same time. But, there she was, walking with our family in Central Park, exploring places with my family and on a train back to Maryland, sitting next to Addie like they were besties. She came with gifts and joy and so much love. After she left, the house felt empty for WEEKS.

The other day, while my daughter was worried that her birthday during quarantine wouldn’t be special, guess what showed up at our house? A HUGE assortment of balloons — for the Birthday Girl (and even some for Zach!!!) from Auntie L.

LaShanta is so special to me. She and I will be friends forever, I promise you. I can truly say she’s one of the most important friendships to me and she has framed these last two years in so many ways.