Well East Coast girls are hip ...

My friend Jen is out this week from her NYC offices for training - and gosh I sure do wish my company lots of luck on that. (I keed, of course.)

I've admired "JLu" for quite awhile. While I talk about being adventurous, she's actually gone and DONE things that I still haven't found the courage to do. She was hired a few months prior to me and I inherited some of her tasks (which she was fine with, or so I was told. I SURE hope that was the case ...). Since I met Jen in 2002, she's faced quite a few changes - some by choice, and some by necessity - but she's also done so with a great deal of calm and acceptance. I'm certain that she'll argue this point, and I'm not for a moment suggesting that she hasn't had "freak out" moments, but she'll never convince me that she was afraid of failure. I never saw her hesitate on her decisions.

We had lunch today, while she was on break from her training, where we caught up and did the whole ‘girl chat’ thing. (That'd be her on the left - the one without the bags under her eyes.) I saw her last on August 7 2007 (and yes, I wrote about her then, too so feel free to look that up), and it took me a moment to recognize her standing outside our offices but, once I did, we started right up as ‘tho we saw each other last week - ok, except yeah, I had a bit to update her on. From her side, it seems she has a great beau who she’s rather taken by, and while she likes what she’s doing, California is definitely still “home” for her.

I know that some folks think that actors are, just by their nature, kinda … well … flighty. (Oh geez I’m gonna catch Hell for this.) Jen has a passion for acting – and she’s anything but “flighty”. In fact, she’s one of the most grounded women I’ve had the pleasure to work with, especially in projects that were anything BUT grounded. We have the same methods and, while we respect organization and “how to” guidelines, we don’t necessarily abide by them. I think it is safe to say that we work under the flag of “Ask for forgiveness, not permission”. I may be a bit more bold than she when it comes to how I present myself at work, but it is very safe to say that she’s more bold in her life OUTSIDE of work, and I respect that. I deeply appreciated her talking with me today, and I listened intently to what she had to say once she absorbed where things stand for me. Her advice made me breathe a bit easier, and I made a silent promise to keep her updated on what goes on for me in the next six months. While she hasn’t been on my road, I like that she can stand on the other coast and be my lookout.

For whatever reason, Jen is the first person that I’ve point-blank said “I have Breast Cancer” to, and she didn’t flinch. I’ll never be able to tell her what that meant to me. I can’t even try to do so.

I may not see her again for quite awhile. I don’t have plans to be in NYC anytime soon and, with my job ending in just over a month (and since I haven’t bothered to look for anything else internally), it’s pretty likely that I’ll next catch up with her when she’s back in California. That being said – she’s worth my making the trip out to New York for a visit.

I look forward to reading her comments on this, as long as she doesn’t try to post a photo of herself. (Actresses do that sort of thing, yanno …)