posted by Evi on Feb 15
About a year and a half or two years ago I was looking for a job to supplement my two day a week job so I submitted applications all over the internet especially to the hospitals and school districts. I figured there had to be some sort of office work out there. (Turned out I was wrong.) I finally got contacted by the hospital system and was informed I had to take typing and Microsoft Excel tests.
Okay, with the typing I can more or less hold my own – about 55 to 60 wpm. But Excel is another story. I know enough to work with spread sheets and I’ve taken classes but since I hadn’t worked with it in a long time I managed to forget most of what I had learned. (Which, needless to say, came out loud and clear on my test results.)
So anyway, I showed up at the place where I had to take the test and walked over to the counter to sign in. A woman asked if she could help me and I told her I was here for the typing test. As I looked at her face I thought she looked familiar. I was trying to figure out where I had seen her before, then noticed her name tag. No way, it couldn’t be. But then again, maybe. The last name was different – not that I remembered her last name – and she could have gotten married since I had last seen her.
She took me to the computer and gave me the instructions for the test. Meanwhile I was thinking I’ve got to find out if she’s who I think she is. I mean I’m talking about someone I worked with in New York City more than 35 years ago. She would have been in her early 30’s and I in my – oh never mind how old I was at the time. She was about to leave me to my typing when I finally summoned up every last shred of courage and asked her where she was from.
“New Jersey.” She answered.
“Did you ever work in New York City?” Me.
“Yes.” She.
“Was it an insurance agency?” Me.
“Yes, W____ &W______.” She.
It was she! I then told her we used to work together and spouted out whatever I could remember about her at the time. We chatted for a while, then I had to take my test and when I left we hugged goodbye.
I got into my car with the weirdest feeling having run into someone from my NYC past. I remembered her as she looked 35+ years ago when she and I were much younger and how much the two of us had changed since then and I was overwhelmed with an indescribable nostalgia. All the way home I ached for my lost NYC days and the way things were. I missed my old friends, the commuting, the subway and, yes, even my jobs – not to mention my lost youth.
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