Loose Leaf Notes

Okay Gretchen, I wrote it on my calendar…1:00 Friday, Cafe del Sol.
Looking forward to it. ~ e-mail message from Colleen to Gretchen St. Lawrence on 6/6/05
I arrived at the Café del Sol on Friday at 11:00, excited to meet Gretchen and David St. Lawrence from over at ripples.typepad.com. David is a blogger and author of “Danger Quicksand – Have a Nice Day.” He and Gretchen live in Charlottesville, Virginia, but they plan to move to Floyd County soon.
Of course they weren’t at the café at 11:00, since our meeting was set for 1:00 (see above e-mail confirmation). I did write it on my calendar. I wrote “Gretchen and David” in the Friday June 10th box. But I forgot to write in the time, and somehow that morning I convinced myself that we were scheduled to meet at 11.
Plunked down on the big comfy couch with a cup of Earl Grey in my hand, I chatted with my friends, Bernie and Chris, who happened to be in the Café that morning. At noon, I left, disappointed that I had missed meeting Gretchen and David (not realizing, but suspecting, I had the wrong time). I found myself next door at the Winter Sun clothing store spending some money on a beautiful Ecuadorian batik jacket (hey, that wasn’t part of the plan). I was up at the counter, pulling out my wallet when Bernie came over to tell me that Gretchen and David had arrived.
I’m not sure I made a very good first impression, what with getting the time wrong and all. But from my point of view, the real life Gretchen and David far exceeded any expectation I might have had. I knew what David looked liked from the photo on his blog, and Gretchen and I had been corresponding via Loose Leaf and e-mails. The first thing David said to me was that I looked different without my hat on, referring to my blog photo. He didn’t look like his one-dimensional blog photo either. His smile was warm and engaging and his enthusiasm for life was apparent. This is going to be fun, I thought to myself. And it was.
The mix-up was soon forgotten, and over soup and Swiss cheese and spinach quiches, we talked about blogging, publishing, our grown children, and the places we have lived. Gretchen and I hit it off famously. Did I mention that she grew up in Hingham, the next town over from my hometown of Hull?
After a couple of hours and before heading out to do town errands, David signed his book for me, and I signed a copy of “The Jim and Dan Stories” for him. For those of you who are curious about David’s book, which is about surviving and thriving in the workplace, here’s a comment from the back cover, written by William Schaffer, author of High-Tech Careers for Low-Tech People: David St. Lawrence probes the underbelly of the American corporation with wit, and a fierce determination to help employees hand on to – or regain – their sanity. Danger…Quicksand! is right on the mark.
It’ll be great to have Gretchen and David in the county. The more bloggers the merrier, I say.
On Another Note: Happy 80th birthday to my mother.