I was grouchy when I got up—too muggy, spinning my wheels, no one getting back to me for an article that's due in less than a week, etc etc etc.
And then ... Something Happened.
Steve & I had tried many times to track down our old friend Bill from The House. We wondered if he didn't want to be found, if he was living off the grid, maybe under a different name. We occasionally found wisps of a trail but not him.
A couple of weeks ago I came upon his sister's address & wrote to her, laying out my bona fides & asking if she could let him know that I'd love to be in touch.
That's all it took: he emailed me & today we spoke for hours on the phone. The mystery was much more ordinary than our imaginings—Bill had moved a lot over the years is all. As it happens, he now lives just a couple of hours from Steve & only 50 miles from our other friend Gene.
These days it seems so easy to get every bit of information in the blink of an eye, so when you can't, it seems there must be some sinister reason. But some people aren't so easy to track down—if they have a common name & an ordinary job, not to mention pull up stakes every year or two, that can be all it takes to seemingly disappear.
So Bill is back in my life, & it feels normal. I relish him far more than any mystery about him, that's for sure.
Don't move again, Bill, till I get down there to visit!
And then ... Something Happened.
Steve & I had tried many times to track down our old friend Bill from The House. We wondered if he didn't want to be found, if he was living off the grid, maybe under a different name. We occasionally found wisps of a trail but not him.
A couple of weeks ago I came upon his sister's address & wrote to her, laying out my bona fides & asking if she could let him know that I'd love to be in touch.
That's all it took: he emailed me & today we spoke for hours on the phone. The mystery was much more ordinary than our imaginings—Bill had moved a lot over the years is all. As it happens, he now lives just a couple of hours from Steve & only 50 miles from our other friend Gene.
These days it seems so easy to get every bit of information in the blink of an eye, so when you can't, it seems there must be some sinister reason. But some people aren't so easy to track down—if they have a common name & an ordinary job, not to mention pull up stakes every year or two, that can be all it takes to seemingly disappear.
So Bill is back in my life, & it feels normal. I relish him far more than any mystery about him, that's for sure.
Don't move again, Bill, till I get down there to visit!