When I was in Milwaukee I made arrangements to visit an old friend Lindsay, and her husband for dinner. She is someone I hadn’t seen since high school umpteen years ago.

BTW, Did I wear my “I’m blogging this t-shirt or was it implied?”

I haven’t spent much time with old friends so I didn’t really know what to expect. Driving to dinner, I was a little concerned about awkward silences or perhaps having just being so different now that there wouldn’t be much common ground to talk about.

None of my fears came true. Instead, I had a lovely evening of animated conversation and laughter. I felt free to be myself. It was as though our old friendship had been hung up in a closet, and we took it out, dusted it off, and to my surprise it still fit. It was the highlight of my trip to Milwaukee.

Riding home on the train reflecting on my trip, I realized how my life has been routinely punctuated by really wonderful girls or women. My mother, Shannon in 1st – 2nd grade, the girl who walked to school with me in 3rd and 4th grade, who was it in 5th and 6th grade, the girls in debate club in 7th and 8th grade, strange Nicole who helped me get my first job, Shelly of the long unrequited — then requited crush, Lindsay a confidante when I was a senior in high school, my wife Jeannie — obviously, now Elise. [ Now don't get the idea that this list if comprehensive and don't feel slighted if you're not included. I'm sure I've forgotten, purposely or otherwise, more than a few of you. ]

I can’t imagine life without the profound influence these women have had on me.

This would be an interesting way to organize my memoirs, each chapter with a new female heroine or villain.

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