People Notice When You Smile . . .

“Talent is an amalgam of high sensitivity, easy vulnerability; high sensory equipment (seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, tasting– intensely); a vivid imagination as well as a grip on reality; the desire to communicate one’s own experience and sensations, to make one’s self heard and seen.” ~Uta Hagen

 

Let’s play catch-up. These are things I really want to remember for myself. The final week in April to the beginning week in May, I was in Florida with my folks, my brother and his pregnant wife, Darry and Dulce. We had one final vacation, we went to Disney World. Dulce was pregnant with my nephew, Thatch, but she had fun.

We all stayed at a small, apartment like place. We spent the first day in the Magic Kingdom. The second day was the Animal Kingdom. Third day was MGM Studios and then on the last day Darry, Dulce and myself went back to the Magic Kingdom. Our folks met up with us later that day and then we all went back to the hotel and lounged in the pool. It was so much fun.

I returned to work the following week and Wednesday my boss Joe and I were headed to Ysleta (name has been changed to protect the town). I had never traveled with Joe for work and Joe has a slight crush on me. However, he is married with four kids. He is not remotely attractive and more or less is a pain. He used to be the head lead for our group, but got promoted to our boss when our actual boss got a promotion.

We went to help our sister company fix some things and I was brought along to help because I’m the only one in our group to purchase the commodities that this company was buying. Lenin probably could have gone in place of me, but he is too important to loan out. We need him at home.

Joe and I spend Wednesday through Friday in Ysleta, and on our drive back, I was informed that I might be stationed down in Ysleta for a stint of time. I would be there to help with the problems. We got back to the office and Joe was in our boss’ office and the mandate came down that Joe and I would head back to Ysleta on Monday.

I spent six weeks this summer in Ysleta. Joe stayed with me the first week, just to get everything organized. I was an outsider to those people and we knew the situation wouldn’t be very nice. The kid I was helping down there had no clue how to do his job and really didn’t want to do his job. Therefore it wasn’t an entirely pleasant experience.

I spent my days at the office and my evenings with others from my town who were on loan. It wasn’t too bad, but it was hard. It’s hard not having my social network near me. We went out to eat most every night, which was not good for the waistband of my pants.

Most everyday that I was in Ysleta Lenin and I talked, either through email or on the phone. He would check on me to see how things were going and how I was handling things. He travels a lot for our job, so he knew what I was going through. The only good thing was that I was able to drive home on the weekends. It was a five hour drive, but definitely worth the drive to spend time at home.

One of my favorite moments with him while I was on the road was a phone conversation that turned into an email discussion. I called him because I figured he was still at work. He works late and I was still at the office, it must have been 5:15. He answers his phone and I hear something in the background. He turns it off and I realize he is at home. His office phone rolls to his office cell phone. I realize he is at home and I tell him we can discuss it the next day. He says now and we have the discussion then. It’s more or less me venting about this mess, but there is also some major things that need to be assessed and I wasn’t sure how to go about doing it.

During the discussion, he teases me about whining. I apologize for whining and he says that I’m not whining and if he were in my position, he would be bitching at people. We have small quirk between the two of us, “Thought For the Day.” Whoever has a thought for the day, gives the other a penny and shares a thought for the day. It’s stupid but it started about two years ago and has continued.

Well after the discussion we hang up. He sends me an email titled “Penny for the Day”

Lenin: I have to recharge my phone now because of all the whining.

Bella’s Response: You should have just told me to shut up. I apologize for the whining.

Lenin’s Response: Teasing. They are probably wondering when they are going to break you down to the point where you don’t start the day off with a happy smile. Don’t let them do that.

I was swooning for the rest of the evening after he sent that email. I remember driving back to my hotel on cloud nine that night.

We’re just friends. We can’t be anything more. He’s my lead and he’s the one I go to with all my questions. I have more stories regarding him and my time in Ysleta. However, I’m gonna jet. I’ll try to write more soon and catch up with everyone.