People can surprise you

I had lunch today with Joanna, one of the women I met through my classic film Meetup. She's so bright and accomplished that I'm surprised she requested my help. But she did. She wants me to help her develop the marketing materials she needs to get her new consultancy business off the ground.

I'll fiddle with what she gave me, and I'll look at the additional information she's promised to send along, and I'll give it some organization and direction. Then I'm confident she'll take it from there. I mean, she's sooooo smart and so versatile, able to bounce conversationally from business building to economics to marketing! She can do this on her own! I think she's just stuck.

I promised her we would be able to come up with a flexible, durable positioning statement for her new business and she seemed so relieved. Since I'm doing it for free, she's promised to be buy me lunches "forever." She said she thanks "the universe" for bringing her what she needed ... meaning me, who she encountered most unexpectedly while watching old movies.

I'm happy to help her. I mean, this is, after all, what I do. And getting out and meeting her downtown was good for me -- otherwise I would have just stayed on the sofa, nursing this cold.

But it was a little rattling to see someone who is usually so together, who has so much going for her, appear so vulnerable and unsure. I am forever surprised by how different a person's life can look from the outside from the way it feels on the inside.