Meeting Amy

Hurrah! The first interesting thing I mentioned earlier came to pass yesterday. I had a special visitor here at the Barn, none other than the ever delightful Amy, she of Fertilely Challenged fame.

I had refrained from speaking of it until now, because I was worried that like the best laid plans, this one would somehow get derailed by a last minute work/domestic crisis. And then no one would believe me when I claimed that I was having blogger meetage. After all, the Barn is, admittedly, some ways off the beaten track- in a place where "summer" in the usual sense (you know- heat, sun etc.) is something of an urban legend.

What can I tell you about Amy? Let's see. For starters, she's punctual. Always a plus in my books. There's something ever so slightly daunting about a pre-arranged meeting of someone from the Internets. Even though you are completely confident that they are who they say they are, there is a part of your brain that wonders if in fact they may turn out to be, say, an elderly Dutch woman with a wooden leg, or a crazed axe murderer with a bloodlust for infertile girls.

Happily, Amy arrived right on time at the designated meeting place, which left virtually no opportunity for my tiny mind to dwell on such unwholesome paranoia.

Another thing about Amy- she appreciates, as I do, the value of a good "Happy Hour" offer. Buy two large glasses of wine and get the rest of the bottle free! Yippee! There's nothing like a couple of glasses of house vino to loosen the tongue- not that we really needed any such incentive, since within a few moments of perching on those ghastly trendy bar stools, we were gabbing away like we'd known each other forever.

Oh, and yet another thing- she's a funny, sassy, articulate, insightful and interesting conversationalist. She has a lovely deep and frequent laugh. Not only that, but she is a good listener. Unlike so many other people who have heard me ramble about our infertility woes, she didn't glaze over, tune out, or change the subject. Although we did both veer off, frequently, into frivolous talk-such as current hot trends in jeans and handbags.

I'm sure someone else has posted about this recently (forgive me but I cannot for the life of me remember who)- but it occured to me during the evening that I was experiencing this overwhelming feeling of relief to be in the company of someone who totally and completely gets my situation. I think it is the first time since this infertility lark began that I have truly felt that comfort. Not only that, but as we were sitting there talking, I thought to myself- here's a woman who has been through IVF three times, been through more medical crap than I can even contemplate. It didn't work for her, and there's no obvious reason why. But it wasn't the end of her- far, far from it. Quite the opposite. I sense very good things are coming Amy's way soon. That was very encouraging, especially for someone like me, as I stand on the brink of so much uncertainty.

Rather amusingly, E., who as I think I have mentioned is not often in the same city as me during the working week- suddenly- and for no apparent reason, decided he wanted to drive over that night. He had emailed me earlier to announce that he was "at a bit of a loose end" and "what was I doing later?"

"Sweetness," I replied, "I am happy for you to join us, but I am meeting Amy for drinks & dinner, remember?"

I don't know if somehow the synapses in his brain were not firing, or if I was somehow typing in Greek, but this message repeatedly failed to penetrate his cerebrum. Consequently, when I finally remembered (at the end of Happy Hour, just before we went to the restaurant) to turn on my mobile phone, he was rather grumpy that I was not at home.

"Where are you?" I asked.

"I'm at the flat. Our flat. I thought we'd have something to eat."

" Ahem. May I remind you, as I have done repeatedly over the last several days, and indeed a mere few hours ago, that I. AM. HAVING. DINNER. WITH. AMY."

Oh.

Turns out he was too tired to come out and meet us (plus he had started cooking dinner!) but like a good sport, he drove into town later to pick us up and give Amy a lift back to her hotel. Unfortunately, instead of looking like the delicious Sex God he so essentially is, he chose to appear in a rather peculiar ensemble of baggy biking shorts with a grubby old jersey on top, and a pair of nasty old sneakers on his feet. Mmm, scruffy, and not really in a sexy way.

Sorry, Amy. He's really so much hotter than that, I promise. And not usually so absent minded. Please do come back and see us again- and with any luck, next time you'll be bringing your daughter with you.

Comments

[Anna H.]

Aaah, that sounds like a lovely, lovely evening. I'm so happy that two wonderful woman could get together, even if I'm also terribly jealous.

Here's to the next time you meet -- may there be *at least* two kids running around playing tag beneath the bar stools, while you finish off your bottle of wine.

xxoo

[Molly]

Jealous, jealous, jealous. Lucky you!

[Jane]

Sending up prayers for barrenmare and Amy. May God bless each of you soon.

[Mellie]

I don't know why, but it makes me happy just knowing that 2 fellow bloggers met in real life and truly hit it off. And what is it about boys that they can just completely disregard something even though you've told them 14 times? Unless it directly affects them, they just don't care!

[PJ]

Oh, I'm so jealous. Why wasn't I invited to hang out with the cool kids? I know, I know it's because I live way over here and you're way over there. Still, I'm jealous.

I'm glad you gals had a good time. I bet the first few minutes of all blogger reunions are awkward and then you fall into it like you're old friends.

[reprogirl]

I want to vist. Can I visit? I want to go to happy hour with you. Green with envy.

[InSpring]

That sounds like a wonderful time. I'm not surprised that Amy is just as wonderful in person as we'd think she'd be - or that she's said the same thing about you.