If she wasn’t so nice, I’d hate her.

AshCap appeared in our little circle of friends one Tuesday night three years ago. She’d worked briefly with Ashley W., who invited her to Girls’ Night at Tara’s house.

She was a dietitian, so obviously she was thin. She also was tall, blond, and model-gorgeous. We are all pretty girls, but she was making us look bad. I wondered if she’d have anything in common with us, or if she’d fit in better with the Pageant Circle.

Many Girls’ Nights later, we realized she’d stuck. She was one of us.

As opportunities to hang outside of Tuesday night came up, I realized how sweet she was. One of our first “dates” was at New York Deli, where she introduced me to Bourbon and Diet and I introduced her to Kula, Gabe, and Thiago. We discovered our mutual love of hip-hop that night, and I appreciated her ability to be silly on the dance floor as we bopped up and down Kula-style. This girl was alright.

When a room opened up in my house, Ashley W. pushed for AshCap to move in. She was afraid of my neighborhood and we still weren’t actually close, but I asked and after a couple weeks mulling it over, she agreed to leave the Fan and bring her white behind down to the hood. The half-white, hipster hood. I love you, Church Hill!

It became second nature to sit on the sunlit couch in the mornings and drink coffee together. Sometimes we went on walks, and we realized we could carpool to church and save gas money. Also, married couples only brought one dish for potlucks, so we figured roommates should get a piece of that action, too. Slowly but surely, we got comfortable with each other.

Two years later, she is one of my favorite people on the planet. Next week, she leaves for an orphanage in Tanzania, so I wanted to write this while she still has Internet.

I’m going to do this list style, because otherwise we’d be here for days.

Some Things I Love About You (Ashley Middle Jo Cappel)
1. Your love for Usher, Biggie, and all old-school jams.
2. You’re really generous with your friends.
3. The way you care for the less fortunate or people who are hurting.
4. That you thought Sarah’s sign ” Love people. Cook them tasty food.” was made by cannibals. 5. When you said Chinese people slept in drawers.
6. Your sense of adventure: flying off to all corners of the earth and hiking the Grand Canyon and kayaking and rock climbing. You’re such a tomboy but you still keep it classy.
7. You’re always my plus one, and I’m always yours.

Things that Annoy Me:
1. Your two main food groups are Tofu and Chocolate.
2. You try to kill me about once a week. Seriously. Get a straightener with a timed “Off” button.
3. You eat sugar like a rogue diabetic and you never gain weight.
4. My guy friends fall in love with you and then a year of awkwardness ensues.
5. You leave all the silverware when you wash dishes and you never turn the lights off when you leave a room.

My Favorite Memories/Things that Will Always Make Me Think of You
1. Nights at ChaCha’s and Bellytimber. Everyone else hated the music, but we knew what was up.
2. Girls Group and Church. Dang it. I have to drive myself everywhere now.
3. Uganda. Adventure. Hippos and tents and safari and beautiful children. Great coffee.
4. Homemades By Suzanne.
5. Nick. It will be so weird that we won’t be sisterwives anymore. The three of us have been such a unit. Definitely won’t be the same without you.
6. Friendsgiving. I’ve loved hosting this and other parties (Wine and Cheese night, Valentine’s Day) with you and we always end up dancing somehow.
7. New York. Justin Bieber. Australian bartenders and fire station poles. Winston. Cereal Milk Ice Cream.
8. Countless laughter and tears and talks. Movies and New Girl and Modern Family and Empire and Fresh Off The Boat..living with you has been the best. Seriously.
9.  Hanging with Shak and Turki and Steve and Justin..we have some awesome and interesting friends.
10. Bourbon and cigars and rum cake.
11. Trips to the berry farm and swinging on the porch swing.
12. Hiking trips with all of our friends and sometimes with Saudis.

Ash Cap, you are one of my very best friends and I am going to miss you like crazy. Let’s have a great weekend and add another memory to last us through the time apart. I love you and we will all be praying for you to have an amazing time and to come home safely.

Love, Your Roommate