lourdes
may 24, 2017
Lourdes is somewhat of a social butterfly. She has many friends, new and old, and likes meeting people. With a big heart, she’s caring — openly herself, seeking fun wherever she can find it. And yet, she’s more camera shy than I anticipated; even with me, whom she’s known since the beginning of high school. I ask her to tell me stories about her university friends to distract her as I take her pictures. It helps slightly, and I wait for the pauses between her words, for the genuine smiles and the large laughs, to snap the best photos.
With a friend like Lourdes, who balances so many friendships at once, you wonder if she’ll run out of time and energy for you. But in the end, I found that the school year we spent away from one another was just as important to our friendship. Which is almost the beauty of meeting up with old friends — like rediscovering your comfiest sweater at the back of your closet, slipping it on and basking in its familiarity and warmth. Timeless.
“I still gotta ask you your questions,” I tell Lourdes, after our shoot. She’s ready to nap. We’ve both collapsed onto her bed, drained from a long day.
“Ughhhhhh, okay.”
I fumble for my phone, press record and put the mic to her mouth. I had given her the questions in advance so she’d have time to think about it. Tired, but with full sincerity, she talks about all the things that make her who she is — her major, her love for music, her family and her friends.
foreword
If a good friend was to name your best personality trait, what would they say?
I cheated for this question, I had to ask people. A pretty frequent answer is that I’m caring. I genuinely care about all my friends. No matter how close we are or aren’t, if you come to me and just need a shoulder to cry on, I’ll be there because no one deserves to feel shitty and if you do, I will do everything in my power to make sure you don’t feel alone, on top of all of that.
We’re shooting near your old home. Do you have a favourite childhood memory?
One [of them] was when my mom told me that she was driving me to my cousin’s house for a sleepover but then she ended up taking me to a live action show of The Dragon Tales. […] I was probably like, four or five. I loved The Dragon Tales. Like, I could probably recite you the thing they do with the egg at the beginning. Or is it a scale? I don’t know, whatever. But I loved it. (*Note: After I turn off the recorder, she literally proceeds to sing the beginning of The Dragon Tales.)
I think you do a great job of keeping your old friends close to you. What do you think has been a big contributing factor to maintaining strong friendships?
I thought about this one a lot. I think having a good connection with people. And a good connection [means] like, being able to talk, laugh and cry with them, and loving them the same way through all of it. It’s kind of like wedding vows — through better or through worse; knowing that no argument or time apart could change that connection.
You’re a social science major. What makes you want to go into social work?
A social worker, basically you’re profession is to help people, on the daily. For as long as I can remember [helping people] has been something that I want to do. [For example] I wanted to be a paediatrician, and then a teacher. But a social worker, you get to sit down with [people] and help them work through their issues. And if my efforts could make their day just the slightest bit better, I’d be happy with that.
Describe some of the tattoos you want to get in the future and why.
I definitely want to get one that represents my family because family is very important to me. They’ll always be in my life. I also want to get something to do with music as well because… well, I love music. I’ll never stop loving music. I don’t think I ever could. Hopefully as I get older and travel more, I wanna get something really small that symbolizes all the places I go to.