He’s Just Not Ready For You
Twice in the span of about a month, I have had the good fortune to spend time with my friend Joanna. She moved away from Charleston more than a decade ago. Now, she’s in Denver.
It’s hard to keep in touch across the miles. Through PhD’s (hers). And twins (also hers). And abject craziness (mine).
Life gets in the way of so many of the connections we make. It makes us too harried to stop, and breathe, and tell people what they mean to us.
Joanna doesn’t mean something to me because we *almost* met Justin Timberlake together. It was quite something to *almost* share a wine chiller with him and Jessica Biel.
No.
Jo stuck with me through an awful break-up. Through its aftermath, when I was an abomination of self. She listened to me rant and vent and cry for far longer than any sane person would.
And, when my other friends told me things like “if you’d just stop looking, you’d find the right man” or “you’re just not ready, and that’s why you haven’t met him”, she said something else, something that didn’t make my singleness in my thirties my problem.
There’s a man out there for you, Andra, and he’s just not ready for you. When he’s ready for you, he will show up. I know it.
She said that late one night after a party at her Charleston house. I remember how the lights cast the shadows of palmetto trees over the room. And, I wondered about this man who wasn’t ready for me. Where was he? Was she even right?
Of course, she was.
He was living in Barcelona. Starting an architecture program. When the administration told him he had to come back to the States a year early, he interviewed for a job in Charleston from a phone booth in Austria.
And, that’s how he found me.
I’ll never forget that advice Joanna gave me. She is a special person, and I am fortunate to call her friend.
What a brilliantly impossible way to chance to meet someone.
I am still amazed that it happened, Roger.
He looked and you were there.
Ah, yes.
I played that part (female) once up on a time, Lou. It is very hard to be romantic when a man is singing in one’s face at the level required for the stage. Very wide open mouths…….
Thank goodness in real life you didn’t “Wash that man right outa my hair.” Nellie Forbush is one one of my favorite musical characters.
I washed the wrong men outta my hair, though.
Good riddance to bad men.
Scope it out.
Beautiful. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…you and MTM give me hope. Nice tribute to your friendship wtih Joanna.
It has been a treat to get to see her twice in the span of a little over a month. She usually comes back east in the summer, but they didn’t this year.
Everlasting friendship and beautiful story, Andra (plus, I do like happy endings).
Me too, Penny. Sometimes, I think I spend too much time bemoaning friends I’ve lost when I should be thankful for the ones I’ve kept.
How utterly sweet. The friends who stand by us in the worst of times are the best ones to have in the best of times, too.
You are so right, Jessie.
Such a friend! With a lot of wisdom and a beautiful smile. You’re blessed in one another.
Friends are blessings. The older I get, the more precious they are.
I’m delighted for you to have this time with Joanna. There are friends and there are “those” friends. I can imagine how her perspective gave you the gift of new insights. I love the story of your friendship, Andra. You have wonderful people in your life! D
I am thankful for every blessing, Debra. Blogging has certainly expanded that circle.
What a treasure to have a friend like Joanna. I have a few who have helped me through the grand life crises I’ve encountered.
I’m fortunate to be able to call you friend. You have broad shoulders too.
Hope you two are out there “climbing e’vry mountain” –the picture and the thoughts of other musicals above brought this on…
No time in the mountains this trip. It has been all work for both of us. I even did some time in the booth yesterday, pretending I know something about urban development. Ha.
You know enough about it with regards to zoning/college students and how rental housing affects neighborhoods to write a book about that. And you surely have gathered enough via osmosis!
I am fortunate to call you friend, too. xo
<3
What a great friend. I have a friend like that and I love her very much!
Friends like these are gifts, Beth. Glad you have her in your life.
Thank you
Glad you had a chance to re-connect with Joanna . . . she sounds like a keeper.
She is.
So, let me get this straight… you were working as a long distance operator in Charleston, N.C., and were helping a guy in a phone booth in Austria connect a call, he thought you sounded cute, so he decided to take the job in Charleston, in hopes he might run into you… and he did. ???
Actually, that scenario is wrong… Let me start over… You were working as a long distance operator in Charleston, S.C.,… etc.