That Woman

 Today was a magical day. Time well spent visiting with a friend. I drove an hour to Vallejo (51 minutes), a halfway point for each of us to meet for lunch and to connect. After 8 years of a professional relationship, we agreed we wanted to meet face-to-face.

What a treat it was to visit with her (we will call her G) on this sunny California day. We met at a seafood restaurant and talked for almost three ½ hours. The staff at the restaurant were gracious and didn’t boot us out – they even brought G fresh coffee. We talked.

And talked and talked. What a treat to spend time in her company. We discovered we both enjoy historian Heather Cox Richardson’s historical and modern interpretations on the political scene. I told G I plan to write to Heather to see if I can meet her in person during our trip next year and G totally understood why that would be an amazing opportunity. If we lived near Heather, we’d try to take one of her classes.

We also talked about our philosophies on sharing information that may help others, integrity, questioning our own perceptions, self-awareness of our own privileges, political concerns and how they are shaping our country, politicians who lie for their own personal gain (both sides of the aisle), epi pen sales, epi pen politics, the benefits/pitfalls of free education and nationalized medicine (we are both on Medicare at this point and grateful it is affordable).  The impact our adult children have on our world view and their willingness to call us out a bit when they think we need to delve deeper into an issue. And so much more.

Getting to know someone on a deeper level is energizing for me. I enjoy hearing how other people experience the world. Their perceptions, ideas, plans, and even their daily lives. Somedays it feels like there are so many amazing people to meet and learn about and how will I ever get it all done?

Oh, G, thank you for the bottle of champagne and treating me to lunch. Most of all thank you for meeting me halfway and spending time sharing your life. You are a blessing both personally and professionally. I can hardly wait to hear about your future retirement plans – even if they are still several years away.

On my way home from Vallejo, I turned on my Ed Sheeran Pandora station and sang  along with the likes of Ed and Taylor at the top of my lungs. I saw this meme on Facebook and said, “Yep this is my life now.”

So, G  - this Meme is for you!