Senior Moments: Finding a dear friend in the dead of night
My friend in the night, Katelyn Watkins, and I met two years ago at about 2:30 a.m. when I emailed a writing submission to TELEPHONE, an international arts project. Middle-of-the-night communiques are not unusual for me, but getting a response about 15 minutes later was a surprise. Her reply was so warm and interesting that it prompted a reply from me.
“Do you live in England?” I asked thinking the time difference would make it mid-morning for her. But she was only a two-hour time zone away in Texas, and, like me, was seduced by the serenity of working at night. We just kept writing to each other as we discovered how much we had in common, and, I began calling her my friend in the night. I looked forward to her 3 a.m.-ish emails.
Although she’s far more multi-talented than I am, in many ways, she reminds me of the best parts of my younger self. It was a time when the word “no” was a challenge and I refused to rule out the possibility that one could “swing on a star and carry moonbeams home in a jar.”
We shared a love for Emily Dickinson’s high spirit that wrote itself into her poetry and delighted that Emily was also known to compose her work at night, a tiny thread that attached the three of us. And speaking of thread we loved talking about Emily sitting in her bedroom stitching together her early books by hand.
Katelyn liked and accepted the piece I submitted to TELEPHONE and started reading some of my work. Although she’s young enough to be my daughter, she said it really spoke to her.
“Tell me the stories behind the pieces you wrote about living in Greenwich Village,” she asked. As I explained what was happening in my life at that time, I also learned anew about myself, and K’s observations on my work opened new avenues of reflection and understanding. Some of these will be explored in my upcoming book, which she is helping me edit.
There’s nothing like an upcoming birthday to remind you that it’s time to write that book you’ve been talking about. Katelyn decided it was also a reminder that it was time to meet in person…so she is coming out from Texas for my Mother’s Day birthday.
The book will not be hand-stitched although the thought has crossed my mind. I dare not joke about this with Katelyn, who is an artist as well as a writer and editor. Given her boundless enthusiasm, she might just get some thread and start stitching.
My daughter Sara suggested that maybe Katelyn and I had such a strong connection because she was my daughter in another life. Or perhaps she was my mother. I would be honored to be her mother or daughter.
Whatever the connection, it will be a Mother’s Day+birthday to remember as we meet in person for the first time.
I can’t wait to meet her.
Email patriciabunin@sbcglobal.net. Follow her on Twitter @patriciabunin and patriciabunin.com.