Happy Birthday, Sue

May good luck be with you, Sue.

 

It might surprise some people to learn I don't immediately warm to others. In fact, I rarely initiate conversation or contact with someone I don't know well.

 

So it took some time before I struck up a conversation with one of the few women who worked out at a gym the same time as me in 1993. And, of course, she's the one that approached me, not the other way around. Somehow, we went from a few exchanges in the weight room to regularly scheduled lunches at The Sandwich Shop, always ordering a Reuben on pumpernickel. And then we started meeting for special events, like live theatre and a Bruce Cockburn concert, and she introduced me to Sarah and Tracy (below), who turned out to be just as fun and a little outrageous in the way you wish all your friends would be.

 

She bragged to people about my marathons when I was too embarrassed and she convinced me to keep running when I broke my ankle and I split my foot and thought those days would long be gone. She kept up with everyone and remembered milestones when I did not. I remember the day she moved to Alaska. We worked out one last time at Riverwind and then dressed in the locker room and started bawling when it was time to say goodbye. I only remember crying like that went I dropped off my daughters at college.

 

Today Sue turns 50. I don't think she'd mind me telling people because she looks really good for her age and, as she likes to remind me, she's still younger than me by a year. But 50 is a big deal for anyone and especially any woman. I hope as I type this, she's being pampered by her husband Dan and two boys, Daniel and Mark, at a ski resort in West Virginia. They are the loves of her life and they are very lucky to have Sue be such a big part of theirs. Thanks for reaching out to me that day in the gym, Sue, and for being a big part of my life too.