Yes, I’ll be traveling and meeting strangers all over, but there will inevitably be the same names coming up in my stories. Here’s the cast of characters to help you keep them straight! I’ll keep adding to it whenever I bring up someone new.

• Mom. My mom. This one’s easy.
• BFF. My best friend since 7th grade. We were roommates in Baltimore once upon a time, where the local news station is WBFF. It was inevitable we’d be calling each other BFF forever after, even when I moved away and she stayed in Baltimore.
• BeFF. My best friend since 1st grade. Our friendship is older than most of my former coworkers. She lives in our hometown so when I’m back here at home base, we spend a lot of time together knitting (in my case), cross-stitching (in her case), and enjoying the moments when we don’t have hundreds of miles between us.
• The Cat. My indoor cat who is now a senior citizen, even though I’m in utter denial that she’s not still a kitten. She likes nobody but me, and especially hates the Wookiee.
• The Wookiee. Our outdoor cat. My BeFF gave him to me for my 16th birthday when he was just 5 weeks old. Now he’s a curmudgeonly old man trying to enjoy his retirement years despite The Cat’s presence.