If your pants are already down in anticipation, put them back on. This takes a while!
Deepak Chopra tells us that good luck is simply a meeting of preparedness and opportunity. Other people have written that life is full of surprises, that life is a series of coincidences. Still others talk of fate, destiny and chance. Whatever it is, I'm just grateful that it all worked out the way it did.
The big events that came to shape my circumstances at the time included the sadness and bitterness of divorce, business success and a good measure of financial independence that came with it but mostly a new state of openness and readiness to learn. I came to appreciate more of what was around me as I reached the middle and best years of life.
Kaitlin, at about half my age, should have had it all to learn but I'd suspected and repeatedly confirmed a wisdom beyond her years. A freshness and brightness so honest, filled with life and refreshingly ready to just drink it in. Within hours of our first meeting just thinking of her provoked smiles.
She coupled all this with a thoughtful intellect, not always ready to express what might cause offense, preferring to listen and gently disagree with the thoughts and opinions of others. Some of it came from a certain element of initial shyness but mostly it was a tactful respect that she showed to all. Had I been of her generation at the time our lives collided I would have missed everything beautiful about her apart from the desirable physical aspects noticed by all.
I'd owned and been fixing up a beach house for four years. It was mostly weekend work and some contracting for the bigger jobs. As it was getting close to completion in the early part of Spring I needed to finalize some plans for the landscaping and replacement of the few old bits of furniture. I found a designer on the recommendation of a friend who's place I liked and a neighbor in the city came up with an idea for the landscaping part of the job.
When he'd first thrown out the idea I indicated wholehearted approval but the fact is that I was preoccupied with something else at the time we spoke and didn't really hear, or pay complete attention to much of what he said. There were two problems, well, issues really, that only came to light after he'd put the wheels in motion.
The facts and what I thought were the facts at the time are not the same. I thought I'd agreed for his nephew to do the work and that he'd gone to college for just such a thing and was working hard to get his business up and running. The reality is that he'd engaged on my behalf the services of his niece, who was at college and needed a job for the summer. On a positive note her studies were relevant to the job in hand but they'd only been underway for a year.
By the time this was figured out it was all too late and as the neighbors beautified their gardens from March on, mine was left to look like a building site until Kaitlin got out of college at the end of May.
I didn't want to cause any friction with my buddy in Manhattan and decided that if it didn't work out well I could have it redone next year.
She showed up on the morning of June 1st. I couldn't understand for the life of me why she had so much baggage but it soon became clear that she was staying until September. Fuck, I thought. There seemed little else to think under the circumstances.
She surely noticed my awkwardness upon realizing the full situation but she didn't remark on it. She seemed very pleasant if somewhat disheveled underneath dungarees and a baseball cap. Considering she'd driven about 14 hours through the night to be here, she did well to smile as broadly and often as she did.
I showed her the downstairs of the house and probably went too far in my explanations but hey, it was my dream. Then I showed her the outside. She didn't speak but she went to her car and returned with a pad and pencil. She wrote and scribbled as we walked outside and then I kicked myself for being so rude by not offering her a drink and something to eat. I did and she sensed my urgency "no rush" she replied.
Years ago I made the serious mistake of getting involved with a woman at the office. It had an ugly conclusion that isn't relevant to this story. Since then my contact with women had pretty much been on a professional basis only. I'd had a few spark-free dates arranged by friends but life was pretty full without romance. I'd told myself that it will happen if and when it's meant to happen. It's fair to say that on the day that Kaitlin arrived, I was more than available.
We made our way back into the house and I asked her if she had any preference as to what sort of food I ordered. She chuckled in a way that made me smile and asked what was on offer. I retrieved the file of menus from a kitchen drawer and asked her to choose. "What do you like?" she asked, "I throw out the menus if I don't like them, I don't actually have many visitors over." She chuckled again. I don't know if it's possible to get hooked by a chuckle but it certainly was a pleasant one.
We ordered Thai food.
She asked if I had a computer and I showed her my beach office and gave her the Windows password.
I set the table declining her offer to help.
She asked where she should put her things, it was a good question. There were five bedrooms upstairs and only one had a bed so far and that was a twin. I called 1800TRYABED and arranged for a King Sized bed to be delivered. I figured on picking a frame later. They planned to deliver early evening. After eating, Kaitlin showered and we went shopping for bedding, extra towels, cookware and a whole truck load of other stuff that had immediately become essential.
It was time to explain that I hadn't expected her to be moving in. "I figured that out all by myself" she said. So I told her the rest of the story. She chuckled again. It was the craziest feeling, every time she chuckled we looked at each other and smiled. It was if we'd known each other for years. Maybe since before time.
She asked me to point out garden centers and I did as best as I could. She spotted the orange sign at Home Depot all by herself. She also wanted locations for rental centers and I told her the location of the yellow pages.
The bed arrived and was set up for her in the newly completed master suite where she would have the choice of Jacuzzi tub or six head steam shower. Not exactly the way I'd planned it but that became the norm from this day forward. She bounced on it and announced it to be too big but "very comfortable".
That first night she went to bed early but was up and working on the computer by the time I rose. She printed out some drawings and gave me explanations for her suggestions. Before I broached the question of costs, timing and logistics she answered from her own notes.
All I had to say was "ok"
"What's your salary going to be?"
"Room and board" she answered. "I'll let you know when we need a check, if it comes in less than all this and you're happy, then you can decide what to pay me. Just float me some money now and maybe give me some input on the grocery shopping please." It was my turn to chuckle.
There seemed to be ample anticipation and an absence of expectation. I knew already that I liked Kaitlin a lot.
