Detachment issues

[AntoniaB]

Hey everyone, my planned dinner for colleagues was very nice. The high point for me was that I had invited a much older colleague--we're all in our 30's/40's, she's in her 70's. Her husband died 10 years ago of cancer and she has been alone since and she and I have talked privately about "what it's like to rebuild your life as a single woman". Well she came and she bought us all a round of drinks and even gave me and my other bday coworker cards. She delighted us with stories from when she was younger, the birth of her first child (who had the same birthday as me) and the like. At some point she told us that on Oprah the other day, she said that happiness came from many things, but money was not one of them, that great friends to spend time with was a source of happiness. She told us that we were her great friends.

Mind you, this is a work colleague whom most faculty have written off. The more I'm around her, the more I see how lovely she is. Hell, she had a great pair of knee-hi leather boots and a leather jacket on!

I just felt blessed tonight. This dinner, which seemed to mean a lot to her, would not have happened were I not to have been betrayed. I feel like certain people are coming into my life right now that I can make happier, and I never felt like I had a "mission" in life before, but now I do.

If any of you have seen the foreign film Amelie, well, this is right up my alley right now. And incidentally I just taught that film in class last night!

So a good night. Life is good.