I've Met Someone New

I have been working on my certificate in Business Communication and Professional Writing and just finished what I hope is my last course -- Ethics and Legal Issues in Writing and Publishing. It was a four week core course and on the first night 20 of us crammed into a small lecture room. It was very awkward as there weren't enough seats to leave any empty, so we had to actually sit beside each other. Horrors!

We were all pretty well behaved on that first night, though it didn't take long to pick up on some unique personalities. There was the one who had an agenda that had nothing to do with the course. There was the one who kept his head down hoping the teacher wouldn't ask him a question. There was the know-it-all. There was the one with the metal pencil case, with little puppies on it, that held her pen, small ruler, pencil, eraser and correction tape (yes, this was a course for adults). And then there was the one, that after a couple of under-the-breath comments I turned to and said "I think I like you".

Alex and I were separated at birth. Red wine? Check. Savory, not sweet? Check. Love Seattle? Check. Run with a similar crowd? Check. Not suffering fools gladly? Check. We made a point of sitting beside each other in the next class and by the third class we had exchanged emails, PINs (oh yeah, both Blackberry users) and blog info.

I told the boyfriend about Alex and our similarities, but you know boyfriends? Kind of in one ear and out the other (mind you mentioning this during what turned out to be the final game between the Vancouver Canucks and the LA Kings might have been poor timing on my part).

On the last day of class Alex presented me with the beautiful bouquet of tulips above, to thank me for the inspiration to start blogging and I joked that we seemed to be in the midst of a whirlwind romance.

When I walked through the front door that night and greeted the boyfriend the first words out of his mouth were "Where did you get the flowers?"

"Alex gave them to me".

Needless to say his response, said with steely eyes (always wanted to write that) was "Who's Alex?"

"Alex is the one that I met in my class. Tonight was our last night and she wanted to thank me for writing my blog and inspiring her to start one of her own. I think it's sweet."

"Who?"

"Alex. Alexandra. I told you about her."

There comes a point in our lives when we don't make new friends readily. We may meet people that we like and think we should make the effort. But more often than not, that's what it is. Effort. So we never get around to it. We justify this by saying we have enough friends, and besides we're too busy to really put the necessary time into nurturing a new relationship. Next thing you know you are scanning through your Outlook Contacts wondering who the hell Emily is.

Alex and I may not ride off into the sunset together (hmmm -- don't know how she feels about motorbikes yet) but I think we've both decided that this time a new friendship is just what we want -- and it's effortless.

(Oh and by the way for those of you who noticed, the fact that the tulips are in a martini shaker is no reflection on the giver -- just the receiver -- though I think she'd approve.)