3 p.m. today
My cell phone rings. It’s Lois, the head of the agency that’s handling public relations for FOF.
Lois: “CBS News just called. They want to feature you and a few other FOF women on tonight’s 11 p.m. news. Call this woman quickly [and she rattled off the name and cell phone of the CBS reporter.] I don’t care if you have to turn yourself into a pretzel. Do it.”
When Lois recommends that I do something, I jump. I trust and respect her opinion on mostly everything. FOF is launching in 10 days and Lois is up 24/7 doing her PR magic.
3:10 p.m.
I call the CBS reporter who gives me the details. She’d like four women (including me) to be at Times Square at 6 p.m. to tape a segment. I have precious little time to find three FOF friends who can drop what they’re doing to meet me.
I call Susan, Cathy, Jayne, Joni, Linda, Barbara, Terry and Catherine. Susan is the only FOF woman I reach right away. “Sure, I’ll meet you,” she says.
3:15-4:15
Calls, e-mails and voice mails are darting back and forth between me and the seven other women. By 4:15, I also have commitments from Cathy and Joni. The remaining five have all checked in and want to do it, too, but they either have previous engagements or are out of town. Barbara even tries to change her other dates, but can’t.
FOF women don’t hem and haw, fiddle and fuss. They’re there for a friend. Bless their hearts.
I love you all.
Jackie’s older daughter called to tell her about a man she wanted her to meet. A FOF widow, Jackie was skeptical because the man was her age. “Forget it,” she told her daughter, “he wants a 35-year-old. They all do.”
“No, he’s a quality guy,” said her daughter, who was working as an intern for The American Cancer Society, where she had met the potential suitor for her mom. He was another volunteer. Her dad and the man’s wife had both died of cancer.
Jackie and Hal are "outrageously happy"
“Jackie met Hal and the chemistry was immediate. They stayed out until 5:30 a.m on their first date. “I could tell right away that he was kind and good, with a soft heart,” she said.
They have been together every day since that first date three years ago. “Although we have different ideas about politics, religion and pets, we are so easy together and have never argued. We don’t try to change the other,” Jackie added.
The families of their deceased spouses celebrated with the lovebirds when they married two years ago. “In a weird way it was so much better than being divorced because no one was mad,” Jackie said.
Three months after the wedding, they moved from Iowa to Kentucky when Hal got a great job offer. They live with Jackie’s younger daughter, who Hal is going to adopt, and they love being Mr. and Mrs. in a new city. (Hal has two grown sons and Jackie’s matchmaker daughter is graduating from Harvard in a few months.)
“Life just gets better and better when you’re FOF! Why, of why, couldn’t we be this smart and comfortable with ourselves when were young? I would have tried to change Hal and argue with him until he saw everything my way,” Jackie said.
“I am wild about my husband and savoring every precious moment we are lucky enough to have together. Life turns on a dime, and we only have right now.”
I love orange because it's happy, but it wasn't making me happy today
I was strolling alone on Madison Avenue today, feeling a bit tired and melancholy. I also was thinking about the orange shearling coat I was wearing. “Why was she thinking of the coat she was wearing?” you’re probably asking yourself. Answer: I was feeling like an orange blob.
At precisely the same moment, I hear a women’s voice on my left: “Great orange coat,” she says, striding ahead of me. “Thank you, thank you,” I answer, a smile spreading across my face.
She was FOF all the way, elegant looking all in black.
FOF women are the best. I just love them. Thank you again, my friend. Your three little words couldn’t have come at a better time.
Darla, a former colleague, excitedly called me when she heard about faboverfifty. We had much in common when we worked together, including children the same ages, similar backgrounds, passion and talent for selling. I left the company 12 years ago to start my own business. I had been there 23 years and it had changed dramatically. Besides, I couldn’t stomach the president and chairman (one was subsequently fired and the other demoted, I’m delighted to report). I couldn’t have left at a better time, as it turns out. The company changed even more in the last decade. It got even worse.
A packing box was waiting for Darla when she returned from vacation
Darla was recently fired after a 17-year tenure. She was one of its top producers, no less. “I wasn’t fired because of performance, they explained to me when I returned from vacation. I was fired because of my attitude,” she said (not to mention her high compensation). Her assistant was fired while Darla was away. Worse yet, the first thing Darla saw when she got to her desk was a packing box.
Let me explain Darla’s “attitude.” She speaks her mind. When she disagrees, she isn’t afraid to let someone know, including her boss. When she needs something to help her do her job better, she asks for it. She doesn’t suffer fools gladly. She questions. She challenges.
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