Joy Arrives!

“Joy” is a younger friend from my Michael’s Arts N’Crafts days. She’s truly a joy to be around, but she’s got enough snark and audacity to keep life interesting. We’ve been in touch for many years, but I haven’t seen her since the end of my divorce, about 5 years ago. We finally got around to her coming up for a visit for a few days, and today she made it!

I spent the weekend just pacing myself and cleaning up and getting the guest room ready, so things were all set.

Cat is always skeptical of any new friend of mine she meets, but she took to Joy right away, and as Joy loves to chat, it worked out great. Joy had one of those “Escape Room” games to play, and so that was our activity for the evening, besides just catching up for hours of talking!

In general we agree on most things. And as she has a practical approach to most social and political issues, it can feel quite refreshing to discuss sundry current issues with her. She works as a manager in retail, so most people wouldn’t credit her with intellect, but she’s college educated and a voracious reader (she leaves me in the dust, and I’m no slouch) so she understands things with more depth. And she’s not afraid to speak her mind! She got in trouble when we were co-workers for yelling at the manager (not Captain Nate, but the guy who came after him) for over a half hour loud enough for customers to hear! Ah… memories!

We’re planning on some adventures up north tomorrow.