angle.

9/24/19. angle.

​I recently confessed to a friend (over Voxer, of course) that I think I’m really bad at beginnings and endings; first impressions and lasting impressions. She immediately gave me some push back and reminded me of our beginning. Huddled in a corner in a concrete conference center in downtown Salt Lake City. About to read AP Seminar Research Papers for 8 days! The very first AP Seminar reading. We were divided into small groups about to be specialized in a very specific task. Two rows of Dell desktop computers curtained off by heavy navy flame-resistant (I remember reading that specific label) on white pipe tubing. Some of us were teachers, college professors, curriculum writers, one was even a lawyer. Critical thinkers and over analyzers, we were up to the task. But I felt really out of my comfort zone. I looked around our cubicle for a friend, and I spotted her. Blonde, denim jacket, stripped shirt, hipster glasses, my age but way cooler. “There she is,” I thought. During breaks I would Diane-Sawyer-style interview her asking all the things: where she was from, how long had she been teaching, what she was teaching, does she have anyone to share her heart with (points for anyone who recognizes where this question comes from), where does she buy her clothes. You know, hard hitting questions. Over those eight days she became my break buddy, my dinner companion, my Salt Lake City excursion partner-in-crime, and now a lifetime friend. She got married the week we returned home; me to Northeast Georgia, she to Tampa, Florida. We don’t see each other often but Instagram and Voxer keeps us up to speed. She knows my home is always open to her come flood or hurricane. Randomly, I have a lot of close friendships that have started that way. They may call them chance encounters; I call them involuntary friendships or friendship under duress. I find someone, I introduce myself, and that’s that. We’re friends. Dave Matthews knows this, it’s all about “the space between" and I plan to fill it! 

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