HOME SWEET HOME

I'm refinancing my home this week. Working on it is a crazy process, but it eventually brought me to Andrea. She apparently is the link between the mortgage company and the attorney. As it happens she doesn't even live near me. Instead, she's in another state, altogether. Thus, my relationship with Andrea is pretty distant. I've never before known the woman. I've certainly never seen the woman. And, I've never spoken to the woman more than maybe 20 minutes in total.

Until today, that is. I got a call from her earlier this afternoon, supposedly to let me know the latest details regarding the closing. We began our conversation pretty happily, with the usual casual niceties. HI, HOW ARE YOU? I'M GLAD YOU CALLED, etc. etc.

Next thing I know, about an hour into our impromptu conversation, I knew every member of her family, all their ages, all about her divorce and actually, also a lot about her parents' divorce over 30 years ago. I learned all about her small son, where she went to college and where's she's going for a vacation/cruise two weeks from now. I am so telling you... we spoke about everything from high school virginity to what the weather's like where she is compared to where I am. And, get this... she felt close enough to me to fill me in on her upcoming breast augmentation, too. Trust me... we are BEST FRIENDS by now. You wouldn't believe it.

Which sorta makes me think. Either I'm the friendliest woman on earth or Andrea is killing way too much time chatting up with her company's clients. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. I much prefer having this lady on my side of friendly negotiations than on the other's; but there DID come a point when I finally had to say... SO, OKAY. LET'S GET DOWN TO WHAT WE REALLY NEED TO ADDRESS. I'll bet it was an hour and a half after I first answered the phone call that we hit upon the subject of: REFINANCING. Believe me... had I not brought our friendly chit chat to a halt, we'd have gone on for PLENTY more time, no doubt about it. But... I HAD to bring it to a close. During this banter, I had three calls come in via call waiting (which I never answered) and 2 calls on my cell phone (which I also never answered)

It's funny where and how people can make friends. And, it's also funny just how easy (or not) it is to MAKE friends. I've always been a pretty lucky kinda gal... making friends has never been a problem for me. Smile, say hello, boom. You're on your way to possibly adding someone to your list of friends. Better yet, adding someone to your list of Those Friends WHO CAN REALLY REALLY HELP YOU TO GET BETTER SERVICE. Believe me... I adore my best friends. I have LOTS of best friends. But.... when you couple them with the ability to ALSO make things happen... wow. I'm in 7th heaven. So... to Andrea... many thanks for looking after me. Many thanks for staying in touch with me. And, most of all, many thanks for helping me to refinance with as few problems as possible! My kinda friend!