If I were 24-years-old, smart, beautiful, successful, energetic, and a woman…I know exactly who I’d be. I don’t have any real desire to swap genders, but when you see someone you admire so greatly, you can at least see the smallest desirability in the proposition. One of my dear friends, Karlee, has got the stuff. She is quite simply, a surprise. At her young age she is already years ahead of her peer group in terms of a healthy understanding of herself, the people she affects and the larger world around her. The thing I love most about Karlee is her zest for life and her ability to embrace it and take chances.

A few months ago Brian, myself and some friends went on a ski trip to Whistler, Canada. Our closest girlfriends, Jenny, Jamie and Karlee were all there. So were men, lots of them. In fact the ratio of men to women at this ski resort was overwhelming. Our friends, all attractive, available women, were obviously a welcome site to this female starved brood. We had a blast, ate good food, drank the good drink, and met a guy named Morgan from Australia. Apparently I’m not the only one who thinks Karlee is a catch.

Morgan was on extended holiday from the Land Down Under, working in a ski shop in Whistler for the season. He was scruffy, looked like what most would consider a slacker, had an adorable accent and was utterly charming. Not the type of guy Karlee would typically be drawn to, but nevertheless there was an instant attraction and a 48-hour romance blossomed. Typically this is where their story would end. Typically.

They stayed in touch – sometimes by email, sometimes by phone, but mainly through text. Just checking in, seeing what the other was doing. No romanticized ideas of around-the-world love, just two people who really liked each other staying connected. He actually came to Dallas for a few days that turned into a week as he began his journey around the world, back home to Australia. And yes, geographically speaking he is taking the long way around.

As I write this, Karlee and Morgan are traversing the Spanish Riviera, traveling from Barcelona, to Tarragona, to Valencia. He called her a couple weeks ago from Europe and mentioned in passing how much he missed her and how much he would love to spend time with her in Spain. Karlee called us and told us what she was considering and like the good friends we are, we told her we would never speak to her again if she did not go. She didn’t really need persuasion – I sense she already knew she was going – she just wanted confirmation that she wasn’t nuts. Maybe she is and maybe she isn’t. But she is living.

Karlee is not naïve. She is not blind to the fact that Dallas to Melbourne is one hell of a commute. But what an experience! Isn’t that what life is, or at least should be, about? Taking a chance, lifting your hands up and saying “why not?” In one moment she decided to spend a lot of money on last-minute airfare to Europe (money that at her young age is not easy to let go of) and break out a passport, that with the exception of Whistler, is blank.

No one knows who will come into our lives or for what purpose. But the ability to recognize people that are in our lives for a reason, for whatever reason good or bad, now that is a true talent that belies Karlee’s age. I am silently rooting for this impossible relationship to somehow figure out a way for it to work itself out. Only time will tell. But regardless, I am proud of Karlee, and proud that I have friends that would do what she did. Because if I were a 24-year-old, smart, beautiful, successful, energetic woman, I hope I would have done the same thing.

Every other Thursday, Just Friends explores the bonds between gay men and straight women.   E-mail o8sis