In 2018 I had just started lecturing in nursing at a university in South Australia. It was the start of the academic year and I was new to town, so a colleague and I decided to check out the open-day stalls. I’d been vegan for a few years and was hoping to meet some like-minded folk.
A person in a Sea Shepherd hoodie pointed me in the right direction and I was immediately struck by this woman sitting in the middle of the stall. It’s a moment captured in resin in my mind – there was a crowd of people and cupcakes on the table. I would say I was 13 paces away from Laura when I first clapped eyes on her. She was just breathtaking; smiling, happily chatting to people. She seemed to have this immense gravity to her and I could feel myself getting pulled into her orbit. I chatted to her and a few others and left the encounter absolutely stunned. No work got done for the rest of the afternoon. I didn’t know what to make of it. It was a struggle to even accept she existed. I was in shock but I did my best to brush it aside.
