My friend, Julie, came for 3 ½ days to visit. She lives in a 4-storey brownstone in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn and is retired from teaching in the New York City school system. She jokes that she married her husband just to get “that kitchen”. We met when we shared a work space at Harper & Row in the early 70’s, working for two trade editors with adjoining offices. For Julie, the job was a way station as she knew she would leave to teach. For me, it was a mid-life accomplishment, after years of treading water for a management consultant because he traveled all the time and I needed to dance. There is no accounting for my lack of attention to a career for 20 years, but there it is.

Julie and I (she is 17 years younger than I am) kept in touch and continue to be close all these years later. We never are at a loss for words, and can talk for hours. We took long walks, and I am happy to have had her as the catalyst to get me walking again. We also took a long bike ride and I took her to all the interesting streets on the island.

Julie is fighting for her life, not in remission from a cancer that recurred, after years of being cancer free, and is in treatment with frequent check-ups. You can’t tell. We are the same height, have the same body type and could be mistaken for sisters. I worry about her.
Her daughter is a college counselor. How strange that the toddler I met all these years ago has such an interesting, involved job.

I tried to get her to commit to a longer stay, but she said she thought 4 days was the limit anyone could impose on anyone else. There was no swaying her. Also, she has decided she would act on impulse because the future is uncertain. So she was going to feel free to do what she really wanted to do. Maybe I can get to New York at some point.

xx, Teal