Three years, thirty years

So much good food, good conversation and good feelings this week!

First, I reunited with friends from my last agency job. It was me, my art director, and Megan. It was Megan who made it special. We haven't seen her in three years, after she was the first of our little team to be let go. She's a complicated one. She was run out of that agency, the victim of office politics, and it triggered a bout of depression. Then her favorite aunt died. None of us heard from her. 

Then, out of the clear blue, she reached out to me. After a long time off, she took a position as an independent contractor at a pharmaceutical company. She told them she knew of a good writer -- me -- and wondered if I was interested. I'm not -- I consider that part of my life over -- but it meant a lot to me that she still thought enough of me to put a good word in.

I asked her if she wanted to get together. After she immediately, enthusiastically, said "yes," I included my former art director. She is still in the game and I thought maybe Megan might be interested in promoting her to the pharmaceutical company. 

They didn't make the professional re-connection I'd hoped for, but that's on them, not me. I can play matchmaker, but I can't force them to fall in love, right? But here's the important thing: Megan felt supported. It made me happy that she felt so comfortable with me and remembered me so fondly that she wanted to get together. 

The three of us spent hours together, laughing and catching up and gossiping.  

Then I saw Amy. For the first time in -- wait for it! -- thirty years. Back in the long ago 1990s, she was briefly my admin. Then she got a promotion and was moved to our database department. She went away for a long weekend to be a bridesmaid at a wedding in Vermont and came back in love with one of the groomsmen. It was like a Hallmark movie. She was bam, struck by lightening.

I privately thought it was a cool weekend romance but nothing more. After all, he was from Philly, she lived in Chicago. She went to visit him in Philadelphia and upon her return, she said she wanted to move out there to see if they could make it work. I knew then not to underestimate the zsa zsa zsu.*

She left Chicago in 1994 and never looked back. Very involved in her community, now the mother of college student, and still very much in love with the man she met at the wedding in Vermont. 

Anyway, she was in Chicago for the first time since Bill Clinton was President. She was headed to a girls weekend in Lake Geneva and flew into O'Hare. She spent the night in a hotel by the airport and from there she'd rent a car for the drive to Wisconsin. Anyway, wanted to know if I'd like to meet her for dinner.

I was so flattered! We'd kept up on Facebook, but I literally hadn't heard her voice in 30 years. Yet she wanted to see me.

We literally closed the steakhouse. Thirty years gave us a lot to catch up on! We talked movies and books. Her recent trip to Italy and my retirement. Lots about her son and husband. They've had their ups and downs. Amy had a colectomy and requires a colostomy bag, a transition wasn't easy but she made it a triumph. 

Anyway, I had two terrific evenings and enjoyed them both immensely. I'm also proud of myself that I was able to pay for all of it out of the beer stein on my kitchen counter. Here's the deal: At the end of the week, I put any cash I haven't spent into that stein. Using that money keeps me from putting socializing/entertaining on my credit card.

 

 

 

*As defined by Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City: “That butterflies-in-your-stomach thing that happens when you not only love the person, but you gotta have them. Isn’t that what gets you through the years? Even if it fades, at least you have the memory of the zsa zsa zsu…'”

 

Photo by Dan Gold on Unsplash