She only sings in the background

05 Feb She only sings in the background

“You know I only sing in the background.”  We were on our way to karaoke, after a long evening of trying to wrestle a too-big armoire through the too-small door of the studio, and I thought as she said it that those were the truest words I’d ever heard my dear friend Steph speak.

So let me sing for her.

Steph is a giver.  The kind of person who you know will always be there, whether it’s by helping you paint or sewing some incredible costume or being the person your overzealous fiancé goes to when he wants to know what power tools to buy.  She is good at nearly everything in a quietly competent way and she’s unstintingly generous towards the people she loves with both her knowledge and her time. I call her my studio manager but the truth is she’s my lifeline.

But she, like so many of you, underestimates herself.

She’s gorgeous. She wouldn’t tell you that, of course. She’s one of the toughest nuts I’ve ever had the pleasure of trying to crack, and can’t recognize her own lush sensuality, the serene beauty that wraps around her like a cloak when she pauses in the sunlight. She has amazing blue eyes and rich red hair and lips made for smiling and for kissing and for telling you where to go and how to get there.  She is strong, and strong-willed, and has been through hard things in life that shaped her into something unbreakable.

Every colour and texture in the new studio is Steph’s work. She’s got a flair for creating beautiful spaces that I would be lost without. She held my hand and helped me choose furniture and overruled me when she needed to (no shiny lavender velvet couch for me). She made the curtains and stayed up all night painting and sewing. She talked me down when I got overwhelmed and reminded me, again and again, why I was doing this and about all the life-changing beauty we were going to create in that place.

Steph, I love you. Thank you for your support and friendship and inspiring strength. Now get out there and sing a little louder, will you?