MenoShine WOW: Beccy

Welcome to week 3 of MenoShine WOW - celebrating our Woman of the Week.

As I’m writing this blog, my husband, youngest son and I are on our way for a few nights’ holiday in Hilton Head, SC. Ironically, the last time I was here - at this very same hotel, I was with this week’s MenoShine WOW, one of my best friends in the world, Rebecca Brown, fondly known as Beccy Brownhat, Bexster, Brownhat, Spec, Spec-a-boo….the list goes on! 

Janey, Suzi, and now…Bexs

I knew that I’d love writing my MenoShine WOW posts each week, but starting with the amazing women within my friend group, The Posse, has done something I didn’t think was remotely possible - it’s made me love and appreciate them even more. Our first MenoShine WOW was Janey Angel, (the SHINE in MenoShine who can always find the silver lining), then last week was Suzi, aka Flooz (the GLUE that keeps us all together and ensures everyone feels seen and heard). This week is Bexs, who I would deem as the GUIDING LIGHT in more ways than one.

Molly Mellow Yellow Van

I’ve known Beccy since I was 17. We initially bonded in a Theatre Studies class and performance of Bugsy Malone. Beccy drove the coolest yellow camper van which quickly became known to the Posse as Molly Mellow Yellow van. We’d live for the weekends and holidays when Bexs would drive Molly on various camping trips. Singing at the top of our lungs to ABBA and the Eurythmics, and laughing until our bellies ached, those trips were life-giving, and Beccy was always at the center. Our guide, our camping guru. Bexs would say ‘let’s go’ and we’d follow!

Let’s Go Europe

A few years later, at 19, Beccy and I spent our summer interrailing around Europe. I remember getting on the ferry heading to France and being silently terrified as we had no real plan of where we were going. No idea whatsoever of where we’d spend our first night. But it’s hard to be terrified when your best friend is Beccy. She has this air of confidence and a love for travel that’s nothing like I’d experienced before. Even at 19, nothing phased her when she traveled. She viewed everything as an opportunity to learn. To this day, if Beccy has a map, a travel brochure, or a guide book, she is in absolute heaven!

Going back to the Europe trip, our original plan when we got on the ferry was to go to Brussels. About an hour into our trip, we met a couple of backpackers from the States, and before we knew it, our plans had changed and we were heading to a youth hostel in Brugge!

We spent our summer with a “Let’s Go Europe” guidebook that in all reality I probably only opened once or twice, but Beccy spent hours pouring over and finding the most unique and interesting camp sites, youth hostels and places to visit. Probably our best ‘find’ was the infamous “Pink Palace” in Corfu - a backpacker’s dream, where, unbeknownst to us, the ‘check-in’ process involved doing free pour ‘shots’ of Ouzo! Needless to say, we didn’t make it to our room until what felt like hours later!

From hitchhiking on the west coast of France (and being picked up by a very stern French mum who gave us a firm telling off) to being chased out of a basilica in Venice for wearing a tank top and shorts, to having a backpack stolen on an overnight train and sleeping on a park bench in Bordeaux, it was the trip of a lifetime with many life lessons learnt. Maybe one day it’ll be a book in the making!

The Guiding Light

To this day, Beccy is one of those people with a personality so big that when she walks into the room (very often late, I might add) you can’t help but notice. She just has this captivating energy that draws you in. Charismatic, compassionate, curious, with the most sparkly bright blue eyes and a laugh that floats through the air, Beccy has an inner light that is absolutely dazzling.

Within the Posse, Beccy is not only our phenomenal travel guide, she’s very often our life guide. She’s always the one to come with sage advice. Never afraid to bring a different perspective - in fact, I think she often enjoys breaking from the norm and offering an alternative point of view. But it’s always offered with love, and often with a cheeky smile, or glint in her eye, knowing that we’ll get a laugh out of her unique narrative.

The Day the Light Flickered

One of the things I love the most about The Posse is how we show up for each other. If one of us is down, we’re like bees in a hive, each working to help in our own special way. Last year our world was rocked when Beccy was in a terrible car accident (the night before her birthday!!) and nearly lost her life. We were all completely stunned and felt helpless in many ways as our ‘steady guide’ had gone down. With multiple serious injuries, a broken back in several places, a fractured hip, a head injury, a deep wound on her arm, and more, Beccy was in hospital for weeks lying flat on her back in agony. Weeks after she was released from hospital but had to wear a back brace and learn to walk again. It was a long and arduous road to recovery and took a mental toll on our beloved friend who was already dealing with life’s challenges. But watching Beccy’s pure determination to literally get back on her feet was nothing short of awe inspiring.

In less than six months, she was back at work, still struggling with pain and needing physiotherapy and surgery, she carried on. Literally putting one foot in front of the other with more strength and grit than anyone else I know. When many would give up, Beccy forged ahead. She showed up as a partner to her significant other, Ian, a mum to her two gorgeous teenage boys, a driving force at work (side note, Beccy is a freelance marketer with an adept marketing knowledge so if you’re looking for some marketing advice, she’s your woman!) Slowly but surely Beccy found steady ground, and this year in March, almost a year on from the accident, she flew out to see me and we spent a magical week which included two blissful days at the beach in Hilton Head.

We didn’t stop talking the entire time we were together. I feel this way about all of The Posse - I can go years without seeing them in person, but within minutes of meeting up, it’s like we were together yesterday. The week I spent with Beccy was healing on another level. We’ve both been through some heavy life challenges in the past few years. In many ways I think we sometimes feel like shells of ourselves. But we were able to bond even closer over that, and in many ways, I believe we ignited the fire again for each other.

Our Lighthouse

This MenoShine WOW is a love letter from the Posse to our dearest Beccy Brownhat. We see you. We admire you. And we love you dearly. Even on days when you feel your light is barely visible, it’s there, Bexs.

Keep pouring into your cup first - even though that feels uncomfortable as you’ve always been the one to be there for everyone else. Keep going for your morning sea swims, and your beach yoga. Keep putting one foot in front of the other, and when you’re ready, get out a guidebook and plan a Posse trip where we can create new, precious memories and laugh until we can’t breathe. Beccy, you’re our lighthouse and we are blessed to call you a best friend. We love you to the world and back!

The MenoShine Movement

Next week, you’ll meet my amazing friend Katy, and the following week, our final ‘Posse’ WOW will be the wonderful ‘Melly B.’ I have a line up of incredible women after that - how lucky am I that I have SO MANY WOWs in my life!

And this is where I want to hear from you. If you have a friend you’d like to celebrate as the MenoShine WOW, send me an email and tell me all about her. I’m collecting stories and will share them in a book called The MenoShine Movement later next year.

Let’s make this a MenoShine a movement - because no one should have to pause!