Thirteen Things I Miss About Jan

1. She smells like coconut and lime. I'm sure it's perfume or body lotion (more likely the latter), but in my mind the scent is intrinsically associated with her.
2. She doesn't wear make-up. She doesn't need it.
3. When she thinks something is really funny, she laughs like a barking seal. 
4. She calls me "X." If I quote other people calling me "X" here on the blog, I'm just substituting for my real name, but she liked the nickname enough to use it in real life. 
5. She's a great listener.
6. Once she's done listening, she tells me why I'm being dumb.
7. She's good at taking problems apart and finding ways to fix them. Comes with being an engineer, I guess.
8. She makes me see the world differently than I ever had before.
9. She's not afraid to get her hands dirty.
10. But usually her hands are clean. 
11. She slurps her noodles. Because that's how they do it in Japan. Never mind that she does this with spaghetti as much as with ramen.
12. She lets me open the door for her, but then she opens the next door for me.
13. She is the missing piece in my puzzle.