Long Ago Friend

    Looking for other information, I happened upon the name of an old friend, from our time as employees  of the New York Telephone Company in Troy. A click brought me to her Facebook page. I knew she and her husband had retired to Florida, and sure enough, that's where her posts are from. 

   It's hard to say, looking back, when relationships come to an end. It's much easier to recount the beginnings. We first met when we were in the Telephone Company's training program, a very serious and prolonged program at the time. Not just anyone was fit to work there; you had to be trained for that job. 

  Jo Ann and I  were both in our 20's at the time, single and unattached, and we gradually developed a friendship over time, which included many adventures, work related and then past our time as employees, of events both humorous and later tragic.  So long ago, and in the past, but as in other happenings in youth, time had an endless quality. 

   The Telephone Company was a supporter of community events; they would buy a number of tickets for shows and events and offer them to the employees. Since we were both unattached at the time, we would accept the tickets. Once we went to the RPI Field house for an appearance of Ray Charles; our seats were behind a pole. Another time, we were offered tickets to a Dog  Show, but when we got there, it was a Cat Show. The cats, being cats, were all in their containers. You couldn't see them without peering in,  so we left early. Probably the most memorable event was a swimming competition at the Crooked Lake Hotel. We were not interested in the swimming, but it included dinner, so we went. It was the longest afternoon of our lives. Glass enclosed, the pool area was sunny and uncomfortably hot, the smell of chlorine saturated the air, and one after another, we sat and watched what seemed like hundreds of youngsters dive into the pool, and get their scores. Kind of deadly, but we waited for dinner.  We entered the large dining room. There were many people seated at a number of tables. It was quite a formal affair with  reserved seating, including a very large table for the Telephone Company, probably about 20 or so place settings. Jo Ann and I were the only ones at our  table, apart from any others, and we enjoyed the respect and attentiveness of a number of waiters assigned to our table. We were treated like big shots and felt like fish out of water.

  Such a short time and the years flew by, through marriages, child births and yes, the tragic death of one of her young children, as well as other achievements and misfortunes. As I mentioned, you are aware of beginnings, but oblivious of  endings. So I can't recall our last telephone call, our last exchange of Christmas cards or baby announcements and child updates.   I thought of contacting her on her facebook site, but decided against it. What good would it do.