is that like six degrees?

last monday, i was looking at a photo that was taken either in '97 or '98 on the fridge. it's of lois, hattie (a goddaughter who used to live next door), and andrea (a gal that used to work with me but moved back to s. carolina in the spring of '99 and lost touch with us a few years ago).

hattie is going to be eleven at the end of next month. she lived next door with her parents until '96 and has moved three times since then, ultimately ending up near her parents' childhood homes in Wisconsin. lois gets to see them once or twice a year when they come to town.

as for andrea, we have been wondering what's been going on with her. before susie became our 'official' housesitter, andrea was the first. she also was the dogs' - when there were three roaming (trashing) the house - original second mother. i think she dropped off the face of the earth either in 2001 or 2002...no replies to emails nor xmas cards. a couple summers ago, a mutual friend from s. carolina filled us in on some details when he was in town.

still, we wondered if we did or said something wrong...

well, on tuesday, lois and i were at wendy's when i saw a big, tall guy who looked familiar, but couldn't place. after awhile, i heard the man speak and recognized the voice...it was the little brother of Jennifer Jordan...who is a good friend of Andrea's and lives in s. carolina as well.

although i didn't speak to him (i knew he wouldn't remember me), the quiet 'andrea wondering' was stoked anew. i mentioned to lois how ironic it was that just the night before, i had looked at the picture on the fridge.

just last night, around 8 PM, we were lazing around when the phone rang. guess who it was...

yep. andrea must've gotten the vibes from 1500 miles away. she said that she had been thinking of us of late and decided to call, even though she was scared to death of getting the cold shoulder from us because of her disappearing act.

of course, we were thrilled to hear her voice and harbored no hard feelings. it took a couple hours to catch up, but now everyone is up-to-date and eagerly awaiting March, when she and her partner are coming to visit.

whew...and yay.