One of the things I love most about talking to Julie is the way she retells stories and events that happen to her as if they were scenes from a play; she reenacts all the characters in different voices and inserts dramatic pauses for extra effect.

She regales me with facts and figures from her network of friends, eclectic reading, and extensive Internet searches. Many of her conversation begin with "Can I read you some of this?" or "Research shows..." Julie also has a mental archive of obscure song lyrics she draws from to illustrate any situation, as in "It's just like that Alanis Morrisey song." (One of my favorite things about Julie is that she persists in calling Alanis Morisette Alanis Morrisey despite frequent corrections).

I love Julie for being the ultimate friend- utterly loyal and patient. When I need information to solve any problem, she finds it and sends it along immediately, even if I never asked for help. She dispenses advice to all her friends on subjects from quitting smoking to watching the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. She's the only one I know who can do this truly without judgment- and when you don't follow through, she gently brings it up again a few weeks later. In some cases, this has gone on for over a decade and Julie just persists like water dripping on a stone.

Some of this persistence comes from her absolute conviction that she is correct in all her beliefs. This leads her into many arguments. She claims to hate conflict, and yet, all you have to do is mention something that contradicts her beliefs (like why old U2 fans should be glad the band "made it" instead of resentful) and she is off and running! I think she likes the chance to exercise her very logical and analytical mind. You wouldn't know it looking at her paintings, but by day she is an audiologist at a research hospital. She'll talk your ear off about, well, ears if you let her.

But really, her work in audiology is to support her true love, painting. Julie first started to paint as an undergraduate at Pratt Institute in New York City. Her professors used to tear her apart because she was accepted at Pratt for her skills in drawing and didn't paint very well. She couldn't paint, just knew she wanted to paint. In spite of some devastating criticism, she persisted for four long years, and at the end of her senior year she won First Prize in Painting in Pratt's Juried Senior Fine Arts Show.

I know Julie's painting well, because at one point, my apartment became the unofficial Julie Christensen Gallery. Her paintings lined every available wall; I actually broke my toe on one propped up in the hallway (Mental Monsters for Lunch). Her style is transforming along with her own inner transformations. Although she is becoming more focused on realism, she combines this with a vision of her inner world. I love the way her paintings are full of symbols like little monsters or moths that represent her insecurities and anxieties. You just have to look at her work to see how intense she is. I can see us at 80 years old, hanging out in a retirement home, her paintings on the walls around us as we talk about books, how scary teenages look now, and when her next art show will be. Even in her old age, she will be painting and showing. I am eager to see how her paintings evolve over the next 50 years. I am eager to see how Julie evolves over the next 50 years.