My navy blue suit

2-22-09 reminiscing brain

I was looking through some old pictures from the 80's after I had posted "biker-babe" picture on 2-6-09 (my husband loves that picture of me, even though it was taken 8 years before we met).
I found this other picture which I will call "career-women" which was taken about 3 years after the biker-babe" picture. I was out of college now for a few years and starting to evolve into a more professional dresser for work. Both men and women back in the 80's dressed up for work. Suits were popular, nylons, heel pumps and even these silly looking ties.

I have a fond memory of this particular outfit I had- my navy blue suit. One day as I was walking across the parking lot of my apartment building, a guy in the building next door also was getting home from work, he stopped and asked me if I was an airline stewardess. I smiled and said no, and wondered to myself what's up with this guy? It didn't occur to me until later that this navy suit really did look like something a stewardess would wear back in the day. The next run in with this particular neighbor guy was when he came to my door asking if I had lost some purple bikini underwear in the laundry room. (I had done laundry earlier that day) And sure enough they were mine.

Long story short, this guy Russ and I became good friends, and even now I smile when I think of him. In hind sight now, after knowing Russ and his silliness, I wonder if he took my purple underwear out of the dryer, just to have an excuse to bring them to me. I felt a type of kinship with Russ. We were born in the same year and our birthdays were only 10 days apart. He was fun to hang out with and was even goofier than I am. He didn't mine embarrassing himself which gave him great confidence my many ways. He brought out the silly side of me and we laughed over the smallest things. We could waste more time having fun doing nothing much at all.

Russ came in and out of my life in the late 80's and early 90's. We dated for awhile, but somehow it just evolved more into friendship. I then set him up with dates with several friends over the years. My girl friends liked him- he was fun. Eventually he met my friend Molly, who by that time lived in Kansas City. They dated for awhile, long distance. Russ attended mine and Greg's wedding in 92. The last time we saw him was in 97. Molly came back to Des Moines for a visit (they were not dating by then) but the four of us went out for the evening. It was the night that Princess Diane died, August 31, 1997 so I remember it well.

After that, Russ seemed to disappear from our lives. There were a few phone calls here and there, and I always expected him to show back up at our door at some point, but months turn into years and we have lost track of him. I have been blessed to have many friends in my life over the years: many I've kept in my life, a few I've let go, and once in while, sadly, a friend will unintentionally slip through my fingers. I still miss Russ, but a part of me still expects him to show back up at our door someday. Or better yet, I'll see him somewhere from across the room and it will be one of those "God-incidences" like which happened to me a few weeks ago in Kansas City.