Letter #87 - Erin

I've moved.  A lot.  This means I've lived a lot of places, and had a lot of neighbours and a lot of friends.  Erin is the first neighbour that I have any memories of, and also one of my first friends that I can remember.  I turned 4 the week my family moved to Independence Missouri (my birthday has been almost exclusively spent mid-move or at a church camp) and Erin lived across the street.  During our time there we would spend our days playing in each others' yards, creating dance and gymnastics routines in her basement, climbing trees at my house, or coming up with craft projects.  We had countless sleepovers which always involved makeovers and movies and lots and lots of snacks and giggling.  As we grew older and the trips back to Missouri became less and less frequent, we got worse at keeping tabs on each other.  That never seemed to matter when we came face to face though and we would spend what little time we had together trying to catch up on jobs, classes, boys and music... more giggling, more dreaming, and lots of reminiscing.

Last year I got to spend some more time with Erin and I was so excited to learn that she had just gotten engaged.  More giggling and girly stuff as we talked about my upcoming wedding and ideas for hers... more boys... more giggling.  When the invitation to her wedding arrived I was so sad to have to RSVP no.  Between a severe lack of finances, and having my masters class that weekend it just wasn't possible.  I found myself thinking about her all week leading up to her big day, and the day of my mind kept wandering and wondering where she was at that point in the day, and what she was doing, and whether she was married yet... I wished so badly I could have been there.  So instead, I wrote her a long letter.  It got a bit mushy I will admit but come on... one of my earliest childhood friends got married just 9 months (to the day!) after me... I was bound to get sentimental!

Her younger sister is getting married in a month as well, and I unfortunately (for the same reasons) can't attend hers either... but I am hopeful that maybe in a year or so the world will have changed in such a way that maybe our paths can cross again and there will be more movies, more makeovers, and more giggling.

Letter #44 - Mike

I have had a career that allowed me to meet literally thousands of people.  It was awesome.  Some of those people I could run into on the street tomorrow and not realise it, but many I was able to develop great relationships with.  As I've been out of work this past year, many of those relationships have suffered, and that is a great loss to me.  So today I decided there was no reason I couldn't still work on those relationships, even if I'm not currently in the working corporate world with a corporate schedule and blackberry and crazy travel stories to swap with my colleagues.  I can continue to develop some of those relationships outside of the rat race.

This brings me to Mike.  Mike is someone I met as a result of a series of video interviews my former boss did as a part of our leadership program curriculum.  Mike is a CEO and had some really awesome insights on the concept of work-life balance.  I was not able to tag along with my boss on the trip where he interviewed Mike, but I had been the contact person who set it all up, and followed up with Mike several times afterward.  When my boss returned to the office from that interview, he said "wait til you see it, you're gonna love this guy!"  He was right.  I did get to meet Mike finally a little over a year ago (my last project before the layoff) and it was corporate love at first sight :o)  We share a lot of views on work-life balance and on food.  And music.  Basically, he's awesome and I wish I had more reasons to hang out with him.

Writing to Mike was a very cool experience for me, because it allowed me to draw on professional experiences while focusing entirely on the personal relationship.  I reflected on the things I don't know about this guy, and shared some updates with him on my own life.  He is the kind of person whose opinion I value highly.  I hope I'll get to hear back from him at some point.  I doubt he's much of a letter writer, but I'm sure I'll at least get a note on facebook or something.  If his company weren't based in Montana I bet I could get a good shot at getting a job there, they have a really cool setup... but I'm not sure a move to Montana is in the cards for my family at this time.  Who moves to Montana in February anyway ;o)

Letter #8 - Sam

I have known Sam since I was a freshman in college.  He was one of my first friends there and has stayed someone I keep close in my heart ever since.  A group of us used to meet for lunch on Thursdays, every single week and Sam & I were almost always the first two to arrive, so we would save tables for everyone else and spend the time catching up with each other while we waited.  We became housemates for awhile and Sam was always around to chat with, complain about class schedules to, to cook with or eat with (we both love to be in the kitchen!)... etc etc.  When Sam moved out I really missed having him around.

Writing my letter to Sam brought me right back to the kitchen... me trying in vain to only cook for one (he was great at helping me finish off my leftovers... I can only repeat the same meal so many times before I would just rather not eat at all!) and Sam either pitching in, looking on, or leaning in the doorway making conversation.  It was a great experience, being able to let my mind focus on such great memories.

There is a church event coming up next month and I am hoping that he will be there and that we will have a chance to chat.  The last time I was supposed to see him he had a death in the family, so we didn't end up connecting.  I close this entry heading to the kitchen to make dinner for my husband and I, but knowing that Sam will be in my head, leaning against the doorway :o)