My friends, chapter 10: Nicole

Nicole Roberts Winmill. Metaphors: If she were a metal? Gold. If she were a stone? A rare and brilliant diamond. These aren't necessarily indicative of her color scheme. Rather, they say more about quality. Nicole is, in a word, a quality person. She is indelibly scrupulous, which is getting rarer all the time. In fact, when we met, I thought her level of sweetness impossible, as in, too good to be true. But I found out, in fairly short order, that it was authentic and undeniable.
We met in the fall of 2006. I had been divorced a couple months. In the LDS church every woman is assigned two Visiting Teachers that come over once a month to check in on you, give a short message of encouragement, and bring a little treat or so. Nicole went way above and beyond as my VT. She wrote me inspiring letters. She laughed with me, cried with me, talked me out of a number of ill-advised pursuits involving the opposite sex, and gave me great fashion advice. She made me go to parties and I actually had fun, in spite of myself. In fact, I was there when she met her husband at one of these parties. She and I went to San Antonio for the day. We went shopping, went out to dinner, and then went to this party. I was pretty beat and not too eager to converse with anyone there but Nicole and this tall, rock-a-billy guy really hit it off and I knew I was going to have to put on my game face for a fair few hours. I'm certainly glad my pains were well worth it; nuptials considered.
The reception was held at their home. I was honored to sing two lovely songs: When You Say Nothing at All and The Way I Am with my dear friends Ivy and Doug accompanying. It was so wonderful.
A memory/metaphor I often reflect upon is the time we went to the Comal River to float on tubes. Going down the way-too-fast shoot I lost my sun glasses, my balance, and a fair amount of my dignity...not to mention my tube. She recovered all but the sun glasses as she hoisted me, my tube, and my dignity out of the forceful waters. She held my tube as I remounted, made sure I was secure, both mind and body, before alighting her own tube and continuing the journey. And that's how things have always been with us. I flail and toss and cry and she makes everything all better! That is the Nicole metaphor. Nicolina, thank you for doing that for me, in countless ways, over and over. All my heart, I love you.