connecting the dots — Genie Alisa

I IMed on Wednesday to tell her I was in a Panera Bread in Illinois (the same Panera Bread where I'm typing this now). Since Chicago is her old college stomping ground, she had many suggestions on where to eat and hang out. She also put me in touch with her friend Kat. It was basically the equivalent of an email saying "super cool friend #1 meet super cool friend #2 and vice versa. You will love each other I'm sure." She did not disappoint me. Because of both of our hectic schedules, dinner was not an option, but Kat suggested coffee and pedicures at a local spa that stays open until 11pm (can I tell you how much I wish our spas stayed open that late?). I got directions to her house and headed there at 8pm.

Since it has already been mentioned that LauraSiobhan is an alternate universe version of me, I was curious to see what the Kat flavored version of me would be. I started texting Kat from the car telling her I might be 10 min late based off of the GPS estimates. We had a lengthy conversation over text messages before I even arrived. She told me to call her once I got to her street and she would direct me where to park.

When I called and she began directing me to her house I thought, "holy shit it's like I'm talking to Laura." Apparently she had the exact same thought upon talking to me. I came in, met her cats and son and then we headed off to get our pedicures. It was a fine evening all around. For someone I had no idea what she looked like and had never spoken to before, we hit it off instantly. It was the most comfortable and pleasant evening I've spent with a stranger.

Since Kat's current occupation is rock star and my current occupation is library geek and we live many miles from each other, I'm not sure we would have ever crossed paths or sought each other out. I have found that there are not enough definitions for all the flavors of people in my life. I have long believed that one should not be limited to one best friend. I have many friends, some dear friends, some very dear friends, and a few cosmic friends. Cosmic friends fall into the kind that are so close, they may as well be family (and the "meet me at this address with a shovel" kind of family versus the tedious Thanksgiving dinner kind of family). I'm grateful for all of them.

Kat and SamSam