My long-time bestie and I have been friends since high school. We were 14 when we met. We spent an entire school year convincing our friends that we were siblings separated by adoption. Nevermind that we look nothing alike! Since high-school, we have been each other's ride or die.

She lives on a fixed income and has always put her kids ahead of herself. I divorced after a troublesome marriage. But we finally took a trip out of the province (and country) together this past fall. My BFF and her daughter were attending a wedding for a friend in place of their friend's deceased child - not the happy occasion you always hope to travel under.

This year, we turn 50 a month apart. We have never really had the chance to travel together and we have been unable to celebrate most milestones together. We have stayed in province, a few hours from home, in family vacations together. We're really hoping to keep the pie-in-the-sky cruise booking we had reserved - we put the deposit down but life happened and we haven't been able to pay anything else since. Especially since it's all-inclusive!

Both of us are coming off of hard years in 2024 (family losses, monetary hardship, big home repairs, etc.). For me, I've been struggling with depression for the latter half of this year and I want to find something I can do to make me happy. And helping friends has always done that - this way just a bit more than usual.

Your help to get us on this trip (or a fallback one this spring), would mean the world to the both of us.