Time Wasted

I'm in the middle of two crazily busy weeks. From January 21, when I returned from my Ohio interview trip, to February 8, I've had only two evenings that weren't filled with either a rehearsal or a performance. During that time I've continued to juggle painters and plumbers (oooh, that's a mental image!). I met with the realtor, signed the listing agreement, and had to put the house back together after the painter finished. I've packed boxes and taken them to a storage unit to declutter the house, given away unused items to friends and strangers (love craigslist!), and started having anxiety dreams about the move. (Driving across the country and Rudi got out of the car and I couldn't catch him to get him back in the car.) Yesterday the house was shown twice, and I specified to the realtors who called that I needed their clients to understand that I was packing to move to Ohio. (Everyone always wants to know why!)

My friend Maureen has been the beneficiary of some regifting, items that will go into her church's auction in March. Maureen and George, with whom I spent Christmas, have this house with a trillion-dollar view of Tucson. We were trying to figure out how we would get together to exchange these goods. (You can't have a great view without being a ways out of town!) She invited me to come up for supper after my Friday evening Mozart dress rehearsal.

I had such a fabulous time. Both Maureen and George come from D.C., so we shared lots of stories about life in our beloved Washington—stories of slug lines and quiet Metro rides and backyard woods. Stories only those who have lived in Our Nation's Capital can really appreciate. And a supper that was simple to her was gourmet cuisine to this non-cook.

Over the past couple of years, working as co-presidents of the Tucson Pi Phi alum club, working together on the winter newsletter and on preparations for Founders Day, Maureen has grown to be a very dear friend. I miss her in the summer when she's learning and growing at Chatauqua and has minimal access to e-mail. I learn and grow from knowing her.

Maureen is a writer, a fellow word nerd. True, there's a higher chance that you've read her books than that you've read mine. But we are equally enamored of words and how to best assemble them.

As I left their home on Friday night to drive back down into the valley, I wished I had gotten to know her better when I first arrived in Tucson so we would have had eight years of this wonderful friendship instead of just a couple. That's the "time wasted" element of this post, an admonishment to not let opportunities slip by you.

The upside is this: in my new home in Youngstown I'll only be about three hours away from Chatauqua, so I can run up for weekends in the summer and get together with Maureen and George again.