A FATEFUL MEETING

Well, no wonder I got offered the job at Beaute' so quickly this time, when they never even called me back the first time I applied.  There was more to it than just my learning to type!  My new boss was a Zayani, one branch of the wealthy ruling family, and a mere two weeks after she hired me, she headed off to their London pied a terre, for two months, leaving me completely on my own!

In the meantime, John had roomed with this one guy while he was offshore.  Everyone called him Toad.  The offshore gang were big on tough, manly nicknames like Tex and Toad and Tiny.  Tiny was John's other roomie, the head cook.  He weighed 300 lbs. and liked to sleep "nekkid".  Bet you're glad there are no photos of that!

The net around the helipad, in case the pilot misses his mark.  People are NOT supposed to be on it.

Though you may find it hard to fathom from these photos, Toad (a former fire-fighter and EMT) was the safety guy offshore, and probably the most clean-cut and conservative of the whole lot.

Playing cards with this gang can be a very scary proposition.

Anyhoo, just as John had asked his friends to keep an eye on me while he was gone, I suspect someone in the office probably asked Toad to keep an eye on my hubby.

As it turned out, Toad also had a young new wife from Texas.  I guess she was pretty lonely too, since her only friend had gone home to Scotland for the summer,  her new job as a kindergarten teacher at the American School wouldn't start until fall, and her hubby was one of those who only came home for one week a month.

Of course, I didn't know any of this at the time, but I'm guessing that Mr. Toad told his little wife that she needed to meet me, 'cause not long after he got back from the platform, John came home from work with an invitation.  We had been asked over for hamburgers and homemade ice cream, to the house of some girl that neither of us had ever even met!  I thought that was kinda strange.

Little did I know, it was to be one of the most important meetings of our lives -- the one that would lead us to our very best friends of nigh on 35 years now, our wonderfully fun, crazy, quirky soulmates, Paula and Tim!