One of Daughter’s close friends has a mom who is embarking on the new adventure of reinventing herself after ending a twenty-year career and moving to another state. I met her back at the beginning of that career when I worked at the elementary school where she was the principal’s assistant and both of my children were students. She was soft-spoken and kind-hearted and has not changed the least bit over the years.
I walked across the street to that school recently to bid her farewell and give her my good wishes, and in so doing I told her that Daughter had filled me in on all her exciting plans for the future. She cocked her head to the side and said, “Really? What are they?”
I laughed because I knew that feeling. Sometimes our best laid plan for tomorrow is simply not to be doing what we’re doing today. A year after my eighteen-year marriage ended in divorce, Daughter ran into a former high school classmate who was stunned to find out what had happened. She kept saying, “YOUR mom got divorced? YOUR mom?” Well, Daughter’s dad, too, but as my kids have always maintained, that aura I share with June Cleaver is hard to shake. Oh, please, I don’t even own a strand of pearls.
What I already knew is that you have to kiss a pond full of frogs before you find the proverbial prince and I wrote about that a little in Party Momster and more specifically about Husband in Goes Down Easy at a Bargain Price. Back before I even told anyone I had met him, one of our early dates was a brunch outing in a nearby oceanfront town and he suggested we go on his motorcycle. Being more adventurous than my good twin June, I said it sounded like fun.
We were on his bike stopped at a traffic light when I glanced into the car idling next to us and recognized the driver as Sue Kevin, one of Daughter’s friends from high school. Daughter was in college in Boston at the time and I knew Sue had stayed local but I was still very surprised to see her so close I could touch her windshield.
I asked Not-Yet-Husband to honk the horn to get Sue’s attention and when he did I waved enthusiastically. She looked at me stone-faced and then looked away. I nudged Husband for another honk and he obliged. Again, Sue stared right at me as I smiled and waved and then averted her eyes with no response.
Finally, it occurred to me that the helmet’s tinted face shield was obscuring my identity so I asked for one last honk and as the light changed, I flipped the visor up and mouthed “Hi, Sue” as we pulled away. Over my shoulder I could see her eyes open wide and her mouth drop to her jaw before unmistakably forming the words “OH MY GOD!!”
Later that night I received a phone call from Boston.
DAUGHTER: Good evening, this is a courtesy call to see if you’d like to renew your subscription to Biker Chick Magazine.
OSV: Oh, Sue Kevin called you.
DAUGHTER: Oh, she did.
Looking Out, Looking In is the direction of Daughter’s Featured Fotos
tsfat, israel
montreal hotel window
thru the tambourine
can’t talk now