Aydrea Walden’s first friend was an imaginary dog named Oiydee. As she was the shy only child of a chemical engineer and an accountant, the friendship was inevitable and the two spent many years together enjoying life in Corpus Christi, Texas—a seaside hamlet which boasts sandy beaches filled with jellyfish, tar and a surprisingly unflattering statue of the late singer Selena. Oiydee was eventually replaced by human friends, Academic Decathlon and marching band practice. After college, Aydrea left Texas for Washington state. As a newspaper reporterthere, Aydrea was on the scene for the largest marijuana bust in the Washington’s history. As an incredibly naive newspaper reporter there, Aydrea was quoted at the time as saying: “ohhhhh, that’s why parties smell like that.”