Back in the Pleistocene Era when Jenny Jones and I were in high school, “hell” as I refer to it, we didn’t know each other. In a class of only 250 students we were aware of the other’s existence but that was it.
Why?
Incredibly, to me anyway, she was tremendously shy. I remember her being this Jennifer O’Neill/Cheryl Tiegs-esque beauty -- what all of us were supposed to look like back then. She, even from the distance I kept, exuded a calmness, a Zen-like tranquility. I was a bit in awe. It never occurred to me that someone with her looks and mien could be anything but utterly confident.
Me, I had a mortal fear of my classmates, particularly the girls -- this brought on by the assholic bullying I was subjected to on a daily basis by a nasty gang of sociopathic, miscreants whose behavior would make the cast of Mean Girls appear as helpless, mewling baby kittens.
Given Jenny’s shyness and my fears, it’s no surprise that we never connected. Then, 6 or 7 millennium later, Facebook was invented. My initial intent in joining was to use it as a marketing vehicle for my paintings and sculpture. I began receiving all these “friend” requests from people I didn’t know -- girls I went to high school with. The old fears and anxieties sprang up instantly -- like Goosegrass in a Spring garden.
I reminded myself “I’m an adult now. If these were my childhood tormentors:
A) I’m a, mostly, secure, confident adult with a scalpel sharp, lethal wit -- they can’t hurt me anymore and god help them if they try.
B) You never know who will end up being an art appreciator with bucks. (closet capitalist here)
and
C) Schadenfreude!”
One of the friend requests was from Jenny. I sent her my lame-o, canned response: “I see that we went to the same high school but we’ve never met. Thank you for the friend request. Click on the link to see more paintings -- sculpture and tile images are within my Facebook albums. “ blah, blah, blah...Incredibly, amazingly, she wasn’t put off by the pitch. We began exchanging emails about life, travel, politics, religion and more of that general life stuff. A friendship grew.
Fast forward to Winter 2012 -- I HAD to get out of the icy, wet Boston weather even just for a weekend. Jenny had given me a standing invitation to visit her in Phoenix so off I went.
Now, despite corresponding for a couple of years, this was the first time we would meet live and in person. On the westward flight a panic attempted to grab hold -- what if she’s one of those mean girls and I’m about to be stood up and worse! I gave myself a solid internal what-are-you-nuts eye roll and “get a grip” shout. I’ve managed to survive and thrive through 3 seasons with some pretty skanky ass carnivals, being a female pressroom manager back in the days of nudey posters over presses and guys coming to work cracked out or drunk, 4 brain surgeries and another for my back where every major muscle had to be severed and reconnected. IF Jenny turned out to be a sociopath, well, it’d make a very interesting story. Some of our best stories are the tales of how we’ve survived crazy shit -- anticipated crazy and otherwise.
Jenny, even more than expected, is marvelously warm, funny, fun, mature, smart as all hell and still very much the beauty.
All that AND she’s a great cook. Sigh. Me? I totally crush at take out.
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