lunch with amy (lyn)

It’s been a while since I last saw Amy, though it doesn’t feel that way.  We used to work together at CBS back in the late 80’s, and have since been friends.  We both live in the city so we don’t have a good reason for not seeing each other more often.  But schedules and kids and life seem to get in the way.

Today I meet Amy for lunch. She works for The New York Times, in a breathtakingly beautiful new building in midtown.  And although it doesn’t feel like the home of a major newspaper, its modern design is stunning. 

Since I’ve known Amy, I’ve been thin.  And since we haven’t seen each other in a couple of years, she doesn’t notice any change.  I look as I’ve always looked to her.

We have lunch in the most spectacular cafeteria I have ever seen.  The layout is open and clean.  There are food stations everywhere, offering anything from fresh deli sandwiches to sushi made in front of you to an exquisite salad bar to a Chinese section.  Fruits and chips and homemade cookies are everywhere, along with anything you could imagine to drink. 

I remember my dinner last night and proceed cautiously.  I go to the salad bar and take some grilled zucchini, and then I grab a pre-made small chicken satay salad (I sadly discover later that the peanut sauce is very high in points). I take a bottle of water to drink.

Our conversation begins tentatively.  How’s work?  Have you seen so-and-so?  What about school?  Etc.  But within fifteen minutes, we have gone beyond the scrubbed versions of our lives into far more meaningful conversation.

After an hour or more, Amy has to get back to work.  As we say our good-byes, I promise myself that we will see each other more often.  We have no excuse not to!