Thanks, Karal! Love @elizabethboquet and I Suppose You Are Right. Academics at the End of the Semester Need Symbolism to Add Emphasis to the Reality of the Work.

The exchange occurred rather haphazardly. Friendship with Dr. Beth Boquet has been this way for a few years now. When dogs are sick, we drop off packages and leave them at one another's door. When life gets us by the neck, we think of one another and do drive-bye with love packages. On the worst nights, we send photos of Old Fashions and tip each other's cyber-glasses. It's all in the gestures...I see you...I appreciate you.

At some point this year, Beth was thinking about Karal and, driving by one another on some road or other, she said, "Wait. I've had this for Karal," and she launched a teddy bear from her car window to mine. It landed safely on my lap and then we drove off. This is the way the friendship has occurred for almost three years now. Obviously, it's Covid-influenced and both of us are cautiously pragmatic about not being ridiculously naive. We talk more by phone than in person, but we did get one nice evening at the home of a mutual friend (Thanks, Kris & Dave). I also saw her in The Writing Center on campus one morning.

Yesterday, I received a 6 a.m. notification that a FedEx package from Florida was arriving around 10 a.m. on campus. I wrote the Dean's office to let them know to be on the look out for it around 10 a.m.. At 10:17, I get a notification that the package arrived, but the office didn't have it. I guessed they sent it to receiving and it would be delivered by noon. At noon, I went to the Dean's office, but it was closed up and there was no one there. I swiped in and looked for it, but nothing had been dropped off. 

So, I call FedX and they assured me it was on campus. I looked at the confirmation and it was signed by someone I never heard of. I investigated and found out he was on the mail room staff. I walk down, and they looked it up, and they tell me, "Nope. Our records show it was sent to receiving." They gave me a number, I went back to my office and called, and they looked it up and said "No. It was signed by the mailroom." I returned, it was not there and so I go back to receiving. This continued for a couple of hours, but by 4:17 pm I heard a lady say, "Oh, I signed for that this morning around 10 a.m." 

She went to a shelf and retrieved the package. Granted, the response (edits on a 200 page manuscript) were needed by 5 p.m. - with 43-minutes left in the day to get them done. I realized, "That ain't going to happen." 

I got an extension. 

But when I came home, I found these cute little feet in the middle of the kitchen floor. "Oh, no. Karal. You decimated the bear."

Yet, she left the feet. 

I had to photograph it simply to document, "Beth. Yes. This is the career we've chosen for ourself and, of course, I'm feeling exactly the same way. It's the end of the semester. We got this" 

Cheers. It will definitely be another bourbon night tonight. I just made the call.