I was sitting at home last night, not doing anything but watching "King of the Hill" (which, if you haven't seen it, is extraordinarily well-written and even has some morals behind it), when my phone rang. It was V. from my company, the lady who was the secretary-type person who basically did everything. Like go to Sam's Club to pick up more paper towels and toilet paper, and who wrote up all my purchase orders for the lab. And made my life hell because she (a) couldn't pronounce the names of the chemicals ("toluene diisocyanate" isn't that hard after being told about ten times), and (b) kept wanting me to get the cheapest chemicals possible when I needed higher quality chemicals for their purity.
I'd seen V. last at a little get-together that we'd had with a bunch of people from the company (this is before the company fired her; long story), where a good number of us got fairly trashed. I'd given her my home and cell number and told her to call (because apparently they get together every other Friday or so), but she never did. Surprise surprise.
Until last night.
See, she's getting a divorce from her husband. I don't know the reasons, but I know it's uncontested and he's perfectly happy not to be married to her any longer. So she called me last night to ask if I would go to a hearing with her today (why are favors always last minute?!) to tell the commissioner who's handling her divorce that she and her husband haven't lived together in at least a year.
Kurt says she was going through her Rolodex and I was in the W's. :o)
After I told her that I would go with her (I think it's my lot in life to go to court with people... I've done it before), we then ended up talking for an hour and a half. Which is interesting because sometimes when we took lunch together I was excited to have company and to talk to her, and other times when I saw her coming I tried to bury myself in my eBook. Usually she didn't get the hint and talked to me anyhow.
But we had a good chat, and it was nice to talk to someone. It's kind of rare that I get to talk to anyone but Kurt since I'm home all day by myself, and usually by the time evening rolls around I forget to call someone.
So today I got all dolled up and drove way the hell out to Virginia Beach to testify for her. It took all of maybe fifteen minutes, and the commissioner asked me my name, my address, how I know V., and whether, to my knowledge, they've lived together in the past year. Simple enough, although I did have to spell my first name to both the commissioner and V.'s attorney. That made V. laugh since I had told her how excited I was to be taking Kurt's last name since I would finally have ONE name in three that I wouldn't have to spell for someone. And sure enough, I had to spell my first name, but not my last. :o)
V. called me later this evening, which surprised me, and told me she'd talked to Dr. K about getting together before I left for Seattle. So now we're having a party at Dr. K's house next Saturday (thank god, after the playoffs!), and apparently I'm the guest of honor. She thought it was funny that she planned it first without checking with me to see if that date was ok, which is kind of funny.
All of this reminds me again of how high esteem people have for me. I know they wouldn't have a party for just anyone -- and it's not the first time they've done something for me. When Kurt and I had just gotten married, while I was gone on my honeymoon, V. and some other people at the company put together a surprise potluck at work after I got back, and V. even decorated a cake for me with ivy and burgundy ribbon because she remembered I had a burgundy dress.
So I guess I am a well-liked, well-respected person.
I kind of like this feeling. :o)