rsvp (m)

The Product Management group at Gillette in 1981 was a young, vibrant place.  It's what sold me on coming back to Boston when I had my heart set on working in New York with my friends from business school. 

There was something about the atmosphere created by 75 bright, energetic and fun people that was especially compelling.  I really looked forward to going to work every day.  I can still remember our outings to the Cape and seminars in New York.  What a cast of characters.  Each special in their own way.

One, in particular, stood out for her style.....Kathy.

Kathy came into the product marketing function via the Finance Department.  Brimming with confidence, decked out in Armani and Calvin Klein and wholesomely beautiful, it was inevitable that Kathy would leave the beancounters in the dust and join the movers and shakers in the Marketing Department.  When I joined the company, she was a product manager and the boss of my very good friend, V.  They were fun to watch as they were opposite in so many ways.

What I remember most about Kathy was her mink coat.  Full length.  There were no closets in our offices, just hooks with a hanger.  Some idiot placed the coat and hook right at the entrance to all the offices so that your coat was the first thing any visitor saw.  I must have walked by Kathy's office one hundred times a day to get to my boss Bob's office.  That mink coat was right in my face.

Over time, Boston became too small for Kathy.  She left for the glamour of NYC and did quite well, culminating in a job as President of a beauty company.  She remarried twice.  Ironically, her current husband is a Boston man and a partner in a successful enterprise that develops restaurants and some of the hottest nightclubs in town.

Tonight, Kathy and her husband invited me to the opening of his group's newest restaurant.  The chefs are the most recognized names in Boston today.  The invitation says there will be plenty to eat and drink.

I got on the scale this morning and I'm up 3 pounds since last week.

I rsvp'd that I can't go and explained the reason why to Kathy.

She sent me a gracious note back saying that I've done incredibly well these past several months, she understood completely, it's probably a lot of water retention from the salty food on the Vineyard (she has a house there....of course) and that I should eat parsley and spinach today.

Bummer.