52 New Friends

Rayn warned me she would be coming from a fitness class so she would be hot and sweaty.   Wanting to make sure she was comfortable, I got up early and went to the gym before I headed over to meet her for coffee so I could be hot and sweaty too.   Her Facebook page told the story of someone with fitness as a core part of their life and when she arrived, she told me she had considered an attempt to look her best, only to realize the sweaty girl with no makeup was more like her than anything else.   I admired that about her.   I like people with transparency.   And so to be perfectly transparent on my part, I admitted that I would only rate my fitness level at moderate at best.   The little pillow of fat around my midsection was proof of it.   Rayn shrugged, as if it didn’t bother her.   “I don’t exercise to get smaller,” she said.   “I exercise to be more powerful.”   And by the way she moved her arms, I could virtually see the warrior inside of her step out in front of me and th

I love it when my current friends refer me to people they think I may like.   It gives me a chance to stalk those people a little on social media so I don’t have to worry about lulls in the conversation.    Leslie once worked with an old sorority sister of mine so after we set up an appropriate time and place to meet, I got online to check her out.   The first thing that jumped out at me was that she works for a school I’d seen on the news recently.   Once we’d both grabbed a drink from the bartender, I asked her what was going on. Leslie is the digital coordinator for the school’s online program.   She told me that the school rented its building from the Phoenix school district and that the district had suddenly declared they were raising the school’s rent by more than eight hundred percent.   Leslie said, her boss, the principal, had been particularly stressed about it and was hoping to be able to reason with the school district during negotiations.   The parents were stressed

Jennifer barreled into the Chandler coffee shop full of purpose.   After a quick stop to say hello to me at one of the tables, she was off on a mission to get herself a cup of coffee, leaving me trailing behind her to the cashier like an entranced child.   After she had placed her order, she asked to speak to a manager.   She’s the PTO president for her child’s school and they were scheduled to have a First Responder’s Day on September 11 th .   She wanted to know if Starbucks would donate coffee to the event.   She’s a tiny thing but she has a remarkable intensity.   I immediately adored her. Jennifer explained that her son goes to a local public school in the area.   And it’s a nice area!   But it is in an older part of Chandler, Arizona, so the school is one of the older schools in the district.   It was built in the 1970’s and it is showing the wear and tear of age.   In fact, the playground has been ripped out because it didn’t meet current safety standards and because o

Emma was sitting outside waiting for me at the agreed-upon Starbucks when I arrived and as soon as she opened her mouth, her words dripped with a delightful English accent that she no longer realizes she has.   Emma was born in the United Kingdom but her ex-husband’s job was very specialized.   They lived in Asia for a while until he was called back to the UK.   Then, they were sent to Arizona…and at first, Emma wasn’t sure she was going to like it here. One of the first things she noticed was that Americans were particularly vocal and passionate about their politics.   Of course, politics is a topic of conversation all over the world, but Emma was used to a level of civility in those that disagreed that she didn’t find here in the United States.   She likened it to rooting for a sports team.   It was off-putting.   Equally as oft-putting was the American take on religion.   She was used to people keeping their religion relegated to their private moments but Americans tend to wear