Yesterday was kind of a tough day -- I'm slammed with work and my co-worker gave her notice so there was lots of inter-office drama as folks responded to that, and I had an afternoon coffee date with a friend and a long-overdue wedding planning slumber party with another friend. Then in-between one of the Hooked On Tonics girls emailed me, plaintively, and told me she'd broken up with her boyfriend the night before and could I please meet her for a drink after work. So I was running around all day, like some kind of crazed juggler. The high point of the afternoon was my coffee visit (at which, incidentally, no coffee was consumed, so perhaps just "midafternoon chat" is a better descriptor) -- my friend is part of the Gulf of Maine Research Institute and told me about his work and the projects they're doing and the new center they're building with such delight and enthusiasm that I was mesmerized.
Anyway so I pushed along with work and kept getting interrupted by people who wanted to talk about co-worker's departure and comforted my H.O.T. sister in singlehood (and a friendly stranger visiting town on business joined us at the bar and flirted with us, which I think helped her spirits), then got in my car and blazed down to my bride-to-be friend. We're also going to be bridesmaids for another wedding in a few months, so we talked about bachelorette and bridal shower details. Poor girl; I haven't been carrying my weight in this regard, but I think we got a lot done. But I couldn't keep my eyes open and fell asleep within maybe 90 minutes of my arrival.
So this morning we got up early and took a walk on the beautiful beach right near her place, and then I headed to Sears to get new rear tires put on my car. I had a 9 AM conference call scheduled so I asked the Sears guys whether there was someplace I could get some eggs and a cup of tea and they sent me to this terribly depressing chain restaurant called Old Country Buffet. I made myself a salad and found some scrambled eggs and tea and settled into the booth furthest from the ceiling speakers that were piping soft rock hits of yesteryear into the room louder than necessary. I opened up the folder of paperwork I'd brought in and logged into the conference call, early, to wait for the others.
And then something cool happened. This overweight and somewhat arthritic waitress (well, whatever passes for a waitress at a buffet restaurant, table-wiper, I guess) came ambling over to my table and said, "Can I ask you a question -- is there going to be an aquarium or is it just going to be a research institute?" It took me a minute to figure out what she was talking about, but then I realized that I was carrying my paperwork around in the Gulf of Maine Research Institute folder my friend had given me, and she'd noticed it. I told her I didn't work there (and warned her that I might be interrupted at any time by the beginning of the conference call), but I told her what I'd learned about the institute from my friend. I pulled out the map of the new building that's being built right now, and we looked at it together and I told her what kinds of research I had heard might be going on, and the public learning space they're planning to build. "Is is just for school kids?" she asked, disappointed. I don't know, I said. I don't think so. I don't know whether there will be lots of fish in tanks, I said, but I think there are going to be some really cool pictures of the research projects they're doing, that you can see and learn about. She got kind of excited. We talked about marine aquaculture and biotech research. She said the medicine she takes for her arthritis comes from sea cucumbers. We talked about the fishery stock and how fishermen need to make a living but we can't fish out all the fish now and leave nothing for later. I told her how the GMRI had started this project helping the scientists who study the fish and the fishermen with the boats who are in the coastal waterways every day talk to one another and learn from each other, and help each other ask new questions. She thought that was pretty cool. She left the table excited about the work my friend is doing, wanting to get herself a package of information about the institute and its projects, and left me feeling, once again, surprised and delighted by the depth and interests of strangers. Old Country Buffet's food was no more edible but suddenly the place was a lot less depressing.
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