Maria

Maria was an at-school-only friend in high school, but disappeared into the ether (or, by some accounts, Florida) shortly thereafter. Between that time and her nominal return to the fold in the Fall of 2005, she attained a mythological status unheard of outside of the Nadeau bloodline. Periodic sightings or rumors would surface, but little concrete evidence of her continued existence was available.

Her actual reassociation with the North Suburb culture was brought about, like most good things in life, by a fortuitous combination of Live Journal and rock-and-roll. Her presence in the comments section and friends page was deemed thin proof that she was still alive. Conversely, her presence at a Hold Steady show proved it handily. Since that time, her combination of good nature, flexible schedule and latent knowledge of and comfort with my existing social circle have made hers one of the most ubiquitous names in the journal's most recent epoch.
Running Themes

Dogs- Maria enjoys puppies. And kitties, and guinea pigs and, in theory, pretty much every other non-photosynthesizing organism you can think of. It means that her apartment and her guests are generally covered in a layer of light-colored fur, but that's been widely agreed to be "part of the charm." It's very likely that it's only a weighted combination of logistics and Casey preventing Maria's apartment from slowly filling with animals until the fur-to-air ratio becomes unbreathable.

Maria's dog is named Aries. Maria has a cat as well, but the cats antics don't seem to extend beyond sitting on bath towels and staring conspicuously away from whoever is in the room, so she rarely gets mentioned. There are big plans to teach the dog to carry barbecue supplies, so her inclusion in future updates is likely to increase significantly.