WhatsApp!

A journey through a folder of photos I should probably just delete.

Hello!

This week I’ve been attempting to clean up my iPhoto.  I attempt this a few times a year and rarely get very far.  I was going through a folder called WhatsApp this morning and decided to select five photos at random (I literally closed my eyes, scrolled and flicked my mouse around wildly and then opened my eyes and pulled out whatever photo my cursor was sitting on) and write a little something about each.  I hope it ends up being interesting to all of you.  Unlike going through my regular photos and seeing things chronologically, there was something really fascinating about sifting through a series of curated selections that were not just taken or sent by me but were collected via group chats on WhatsApp over a number of years.  Anyway. I won’t over-explain. I’m sure if you are using WhatsApp, you have the same folder somewhere in your life – be it on your phone or in your iPhoto – so you know what I’m talking about. Okay, here goes.

Tegan

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Photo #1

Sara FaceTiming with Georgia in the winter of 2020. Georgia is still a puppy. Her ears haven’t quite decided if they are going to flop (like a Border Collie) or stand (like a German Shepherd). I was so overwhelmed by Georgia. Sometimes I still am. But seeing this photo made me miss the chaos of that time. Which makes me unwell. Such a nostalgia addict. To hear more about my best friend Georgia listen to the latest Rocker Dog Podcast :

Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/mryh5wd4

Apple: https://tinyurl.com/ub6fjdtp

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Photo #2

These stuffed animals were handmade by a fan. We got them while on tour in South America. I am fairly certain they were gifted to us either when we were in São Paulo, Brazil playing Lollapalooza in 2017 or when we played Buenos Aires, Argentina at the Niceto Club a few nights later. Holiday is on the left and Mickey is on the right. Fun fact: when Sara and I were kids we always used seat belts to secure our stuffed animals in the car. And at my Grammas, when we slept over, Sara and I would share a bed and tie our stuffed animals together, and then to each of our wrists in case of a fire. We have always been so anxious! LOL.

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Photo #3

Sara signing The Con X posters with Mickey laying on top of them! Sara and I love to sign posters. For real actually. It’s one of my favourite things to do to create special merchandise to celebrate the release of things and personalize them for fans! It’s been such a huge part of being in our band. Merchandise. It’s how we paid for hotels and crew, it’s how we promoted our band when we weren’t getting press, it’s how we met so many friends and new fans (standing at the merchandise table after a show). I get such a good feeling when I think about merchandise. The Con X tour and album were such amazing projects. I loved putting together the album and preparing for the tour and getting on stage every night. That month of shows was one of my favourite tours of our entire career. The enthusiasm from the audience, the emotion of revisiting that time, playing the entire album from start to finish, stripped down in old theatres, night after night, it was all so special. I felt so lucky. And whoever got this poster that Mickey laid on is also very lucky.

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Photo #4

This made me laugh. I know this photo was taken in Calgary, by a friend and at first, I had no idea why, but then it came back to me! This is the Canadian Tire I used to work at in N.E Calgary when I was 17! My first real job was serving coffee and donuts at Robin’s Donuts which had a small kiosk in Canadian Tire! Sara got me the job. She worked at an actual Robin’s Donuts a block from our house. It was an old donut shop where people still smoked inside. She applied and got hired and then asked her boss if he would give me a job. They didn’t need someone at that location so they hired me for a different location. I had to work 3 afternoons a week, 4-9 pm and then do either a morning or an afternoon shift both Saturday and Sunday. I loved the money but hated the job. In hindsight, I’m not sure it was a great plan to have me working so much my senior year of high school but Sara and I had decided not to go to University so I think my mom insisted on us working to teach us a lesson. It wasn’t like I was studying or applying myself to my studies at that point. When I wasn’t working I was playing guitar or hanging out with my secret girlfriend. When we won Garage Warz in the spring of 1998, I quit my job. The woman running the donut location I worked at, seemed irrationally upset when I quit. The man who had given Sara her job and owned both restaurants was also upset. She wrote about it in High School. Anyway. Our best friends from High School are so patient with us. They would drive us by our old houses, our old schools, and places we hung out without complaint over the years when we would come home to visit. There is no universe where we would have been able to write a memoir or make a TV show without their help. Their photos, diaries, memories and patience helped us piece together our story.

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Photo #5

This one made me laugh. Everyone in our family constantly talks about the weather in our group chats. We recently went to Palm Springs for vacation and the weeks leading up to the trip were primarily spent sending photos like this one to each other complaining about how not hot it was going to be. We’re a west coast cliche! But seriously, I miss LA, I miss living in California. Everyone who doesn’t live there thinks it’s hot there all year long, but it’s not! We get rain and cold weather, the mornings can be quite grey, and the sun goes down so early. It’s not just sun sun sun! But there is a lot of sun. Oh the sun. Sigh.