33. Yvonne

In 2010 I started working at VIPS.

Starting a new job is hard. Or at least it’s hard for me. You need to meet everyone, and you don’t know anything. Yes, it’s exciting, everything is a clean slate, but also a bit exhausting because I like to KNOW things. I like to be helpful. I like to fit in. I like to be a good resource.

It’s hard to be an expert when you’ve been there 1 day.

And it’s hard to fit in when you don’t know anyone.

Then one day in walked Yvonne. And we clicked. Instead of being the only project manager, now there were two of us. Another person. And not just any person. A flamboyant, lively, red-haired diva of a person.

Since I was in the computer industry I tended to work mostly with men. And I liked them because they were no-nonsense and not dramatic. Things were pretty cut and dried. You defined the problem, then you solved the problem. End of story! What was the point of getting all upset about things?

But now I had some emotions creeping in. My dad was sick, and that was hard. My kids were leaving and that was hard. These weren’t just problems I could “solve” (as much as I tried!) these were feelings. And Yvonne was the queen of feelings. She knew how to do feelings. She wasn’t afraid of her feelings, and she wasn’t afraid of mine.

Most people probably had girlfriends, but I really didn’t. I had man-friends and couple-friends and work-friends and family. But somehow I’d gotten to the age of 50 without girlfriends.

Yvonne was generous, adventurous, funny, honest, supportive, interested, a good talker, and a good listener. In other words, a girlfriend.

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34. Granny Jenkins

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32. Shawn