like she was in his thoughts, but the list thing had been a bone of contention for them for a while. She complained that he was so busy making lists, he could never get anything done. It wasn’t true of course, he got plenty done, just not the stuff she wanted him to do. He drank his water and quashed the irritating thoughts. This was about Azure, not him. She however, seemed relieved they’d changed subjects.
Azure -- you must be obsessive about it.
Ross -I don’t think so. But I work better when there’s a plan in motion. Ever since high school, I’ve known what I wanted to do, so I just set out about doing it. My whole family is kind of like that. My older sister loves kids, she has two and they’ve taken in a foster child. My brother always wanted to cure cancer or something, he has a big lab research job at the University. All of us just kind of knew what we wanted out of life and our parents have been very supportive.
Azure --that’s great that you have such a supportive family. Mine’s a little dysfunctional. My parents love me of course, but can’t stand each other. But they suck it up for things like weddings and babies.
Azure --but, if something on your list changes, then your course would change too, right? Things happen all the time.
Ross - yes, and it would depend, sometimes you have to have a contingency plan, something that gets you back on course.
Azure -- and if it’s not the right course? I never got to Rutgers, I deferred a year, fully intending to go back once I thought it over in England. I met Jonathan and then stayed another three years. So my plan changed, I can’t say that was a bad thing.
Ross -No it wasn’t. I’m not saying it wasn’t the right course. Because your change of plans, got you where you are, and…
Azure --and?
Ross- and we wouldn’t have met if you went to Rutgers.
There he put it out there what he’d been thinking for a while now. Since Memphis. After Memphis, he’d emailed her and thanked her for inviting him both to speak and then to the clubs on Beale St. There was no response. He checked his email daily hoping she’d send him something, anything, another gig, another job, a question, anything.
He’d found an old concert poster of Thelonius Monk on eBay and bought it. It was small, a ten- by-fourteen thin three-color poster with frayed edges. He wanted to get it framed and matted and send it to her office, but he couldn’t. He worried that it was too much. It was too much, too personal, too intimate. They were barely colleagues. He buried the poster on the top shelf of his closet.
After four days, she emailed him back, just a couple of lines, but it was enough. In the weeks since her two line response, they’d had been doing this—emailing, chatting online every few days. They continued their Memphis conversation about music and places they’d been. She was a bit of a pop culture nerd and had tapped into his love of Austin Powers movies. He did not tell her about the poster. He wanted to save that.
Some of what they talked about was actually business. He was booked for a workshop in Kansas City next month. He had two smaller jobs between now and then, one of which actually paid more, but they were shoved to the back of his consciousness. The important one was Kansas City and he refused to admit it was important because she would be there.
Ross- You would have gotten some fancy job in New York and kicked major ass there.
Azure --maybe.
Ross- No maybe. You would have.
Azure --no, I mean about us meeting, sometimes I think things are destined. That even if I’d gone to Rutgers, if I hadn’t met Jonathan, I might be working out of NY. But also, I might have gone home, gotten the job with CTC and met you anyway.
Ross -so it’s not a random event?
Azure -I don’t think I believe in random. Was it on your list? Meet some random events planner out of Denver?
Ross- well, kind of yeah. It was more like, work with as many large
Azure -- you must be obsessive about it.
Ross -I don’t think so. But I work better when there’s a plan in motion. Ever since high school, I’ve known what I wanted to do, so I just set out about doing it. My whole family is kind of like that. My older sister loves kids, she has two and they’ve taken in a foster child. My brother always wanted to cure cancer or something, he has a big lab research job at the University. All of us just kind of knew what we wanted out of life and our parents have been very supportive.
Azure --that’s great that you have such a supportive family. Mine’s a little dysfunctional. My parents love me of course, but can’t stand each other. But they suck it up for things like weddings and babies.
Azure --but, if something on your list changes, then your course would change too, right? Things happen all the time.
Ross - yes, and it would depend, sometimes you have to have a contingency plan, something that gets you back on course.
Azure -- and if it’s not the right course? I never got to Rutgers, I deferred a year, fully intending to go back once I thought it over in England. I met Jonathan and then stayed another three years. So my plan changed, I can’t say that was a bad thing.
Ross -No it wasn’t. I’m not saying it wasn’t the right course. Because your change of plans, got you where you are, and…
Azure --and?
Ross- and we wouldn’t have met if you went to Rutgers.
There he put it out there what he’d been thinking for a while now. Since Memphis. After Memphis, he’d emailed her and thanked her for inviting him both to speak and then to the clubs on Beale St. There was no response. He checked his email daily hoping she’d send him something, anything, another gig, another job, a question, anything.
He’d found an old concert poster of Thelonius Monk on eBay and bought it. It was small, a ten- by-fourteen thin three-color poster with frayed edges. He wanted to get it framed and matted and send it to her office, but he couldn’t. He worried that it was too much. It was too much, too personal, too intimate. They were barely colleagues. He buried the poster on the top shelf of his closet.
After four days, she emailed him back, just a couple of lines, but it was enough. In the weeks since her two line response, they’d had been doing this—emailing, chatting online every few days. They continued their Memphis conversation about music and places they’d been. She was a bit of a pop culture nerd and had tapped into his love of Austin Powers movies. He did not tell her about the poster. He wanted to save that.
Some of what they talked about was actually business. He was booked for a workshop in Kansas City next month. He had two smaller jobs between now and then, one of which actually paid more, but they were shoved to the back of his consciousness. The important one was Kansas City and he refused to admit it was important because she would be there.
Ross- You would have gotten some fancy job in New York and kicked major ass there.
Azure --maybe.
Ross- No maybe. You would have.
Azure --no, I mean about us meeting, sometimes I think things are destined. That even if I’d gone to Rutgers, if I hadn’t met Jonathan, I might be working out of NY. But also, I might have gone home, gotten the job with CTC and met you anyway.
Ross -so it’s not a random event?
Azure -I don’t think I believe in random. Was it on your list? Meet some random events planner out of Denver?
Ross- well, kind of yeah. It was more like, work with as many large
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