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Being Whimsical

Met V after fifteen years and saw some shades of the person I had known back then. She always impressed me with her boldness and confidence at work. She and her then boyfriend owned a marketing agency. She sold and he executed - they worked very well together. V used to be coy about her relationship with N. He was always introduced by the title on his business card and there was no mention of anything else. I worked closely with both of them for about a year and observed the signs of a warm and loving relationship. I was divorced and raising J alone back then and often wondered if V and N had just by stroke of luck found themselves through work and then started a company together. Knowing of her hesitance to talk about her personal life, I never asked. 

Over lunch that afternoon, I learned that N and her are married and have a teen-aged daughter together. Counting back, that kid was likely already born when we first met. I seem to recall vaguely that she had a baby she was always stressed about leaving behind. Not being able to tell her clients about her marital status and how it intersected with her business relationship with N, must have created complications but she just dealt with it best she could. She also mentioned a previous marriage and a period of widowhood. All of these events had occurred in her life before she was thirty. 

V has started and sold a few companies since then and works as a freelance advisor to startups now. The family lives in rural France because they fell in love with the village they visited a few years ago and just decided to stay on just for the lark. Now they feel pretty rooted there and its their home. That was always the thing about V that I found fascinating. Her story was never static and never boring. She was constantly re-inventing herself and there was no telling what version of V you would see if you met her after a hiatus. She has always inspired me to go off in directions unknown and unexplored and see what's the worst that can happen. In her case, even in the worst case, she got to have a fantastic adventure.

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