Jon asked me to post a guest blog on her blog, and I immediately agreed, although I had no idea what to blog about. (Not to mention my 14 year old then said, “I thought only famous people were asked to guest blog.”) But, then, I realized the obvious–that what I should blog about is how much Jon’s friendship has meant to me over the years.
Jon and I met in 1992 while we were both working at Foulston & Siefkin, a large Wichita, Kansas law firm. We were drawn together by our shared interests—our love of fantasy reading (which she has kept up much better than I have), our geeky fascination for all things technology-related (although I’m a much bigger Apple fan than she is), and our love of Chinese food. We shared reading recommendations and Chinese restaurant recommendations and talked about all sorts of topics, from career to family to Lord of the Rings (the books, as the movies had not come out yet). Much as I liked all the lawyers in the firm, it was sanity-saving and wonderful to hang out with someone who wasn’t a lawyer and who liked many of the same things that I do. Jon made my transition of moving from Silicon Valley to Wichita an easier one with her friendship and support.
I moved away from Wichita about two years later, but Jon and I kept in sporadic touch with birthday/Christmas cards and then, more frequently, with email.
I now live in Washington, DC and keep nagging Jon to come and visit. 🙂 I also love reading her blog to see what she and her family are up to. (And I discovered that I can ask her lots of photography questions, too!)
So, Jon, this may have not been exactly the type of post you wanted from me as a guest blogger, but I did want to take this opportunity to say that I have valued your friendship throughout the years, and I hope to talk with you (whether for real or virtually) about fantasy, LOTR, and food for many more years to come!
Thank you for writing such a sweet post. It was wonderful to wake up to upon returning to the States. I’ve always treasured our friendship. I plan to make a trip to the East Coast next year to celebrate the next big ‘thing’ for those of us born in ’64.
Thanks again,
Jon