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nicole tells stories Yesterday after class was one of those moments where I needed someone to share my feelings with about the exam and I didn't have anyone. The combination of excitement, relief and pride was something that I didn't want to keep to myself, but had to anyway. At noon on a Thursday I couldn't think of anyone that I could call. That brief moment in time was the first highlight of the day for me, the second came later in the night early this morning when I got to spend some quality time with my buddy Nicole. When I walked into the room, I could tell just by looking at her that she was in a good mood, which was slightly odd for a Thursday night her first night back at work after her weekend. I didn't mind this unexpected change in her and spent the next forty minutes listening to her new stories. We hadn't talked since Monday morning and from what she told me she had had a busy week. I have never hid my feelings about Nicole and whenever I spend time with her I come to like her more and more. She comes alive when she starts telling stories and her mood is so infectious. Watching her face change expression as she tells the story shows me how much she cares about what she is telling me. Unlike other people she isn't talking for the sake of talking. Plus she has to be one of the few truly alive people that I know and I get so much from the time that I spend with her. Her love of her family always comes through in her stories and I wish that I could tell them as well as she does. Even though she complains about them I am sure that she would be lost without them. The latest event in her family echoes events in mine. This past weekend her grandma fell and broke her hip. Naturally this accident led to a stay in the hospital and the start of physical therapy. It seems that her grandma detests physical therapy as much as my grandma does. Then again I have to wonder if anyone but athletes appreciate and or look forward to physical therapy. Even better than Nicole's stories about her grandma are the stories about her and her son. The way that they interact sometimes borders on that of two small children and she knows it. From what she told me Tuesday had been a long day for her and by the time that her fiance woke up she had had enough. Her son was also crabby that day and refused to let her turn off a video game that he had been playing. This meant electronic sound effects and voice samples kept playing in the background as she tried to read her book even though he wasn't playing the game anymore. Whenever she got up from the couch, he would run over to the game and play his hands over it and say to her mama no, mama no. Finally she couldn't take it anymore and replied to him in a sing song sarcastic voice I wasn't going to touch it anyway, which surprised her. She said that she hadn't talked that way to someone since she was five. Sadly her phone rang as I was standing there and that was the last story that I heard from her that day. The phone call was for me. Someone had a problem and needed me to solve it. Suddenly the silly world of work tore me away from my buddy Nicole, but I was happy for the time that I had had with her. As I said everyone probably knew where I was for the past half an hour or so and I didn't care. Spending that time with her brightened my whole day and made the rest of the morning tolerable. ... My relationship with Nicole is a complete contrast to another woman who used to play a large role in my life. Earlier in the night I had been told that Ann had made a visit to work late in the morning. On the one hand I found this news to be funny. Here was the prodigal daughter returning home and a few people treated her as though she were a leper. I was glad that she could come back and visit, but at the same time I hadn't been told by her that she was coming. I guess that I wasn't important enough to be told that this would be happening. Maybe I am overreacting, but I don't know what to think about her anymore. I do have to say one positive thing about Ann though and that would be that she has very good timing. She made her appearance on the day when our boss was out of the office, who more than likely would not have let her inside the building. Personally I would have loved to have seen his expression when she walked through the door. From what I was told a few of the other managers nearly shit their pants when they saw her. There was a major stockholders meeting being held and here was this trouble child on the premises. Hearing the story made me laugh. Yes, people there is a life outside of the company and people can survive without it. ... I keep meaning to talk some more about my return to Europe, but I always seem to run out of time.
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