sebastopudlians in new york unite!

how brad came back into my life is one of those "it's a small world afterall" stories. one day in the middle of interviewing candidates for butler positions at the catering company where i work, i came upon a nice boy whose resume listed summer work experience at a restaurant in bodega bay. being that i grew up 10 miles from the aforementioned coastal lovely-ville, my curiosity was piqued.
"you worked in bodega bay....where are you from?"
"california"
where?
"northern california"
where?
"sonoma county"
where?
"sebastopol" (my hometown!!)

holy shit! you are young! you were probably the little brother of someone i grew up with! and looking down at his name i realized indeed, that he was my elementary school buddy's little brother. oh, how many days jenny and i spent playing with cabbage patch kids, making shrinky-dinks and swinging on bars till my hands were blistered as toddler brad and his pudgy brother kevin 'pestered' us! as these wonderful memories scrolled movie-like through my head i suddenly remembered hearing the news that my long lost friend (junior high brought strife between us--the usual popularity wars) had tragically passed away a couple years ago. figuring i never would have seen her again anyway, and having lost touch with her family, i'd felt awkward about what to do with the grief i felt. but this moment felt perfectly destined and natural. up i was, hugging brad as though he were still that little boy, "i'm so sorry about your sister--she was a dear friend of mine!"
both of us were crying at this point, hugging, while my co-workers and boss looked on in confusion.



the back of this photo is labeled "jenny, kitty, katie amber and fredrica fernanda--june '84". the latter two names, of course, belonged to my cabbage patch kids.

the crazy thing is i had to beg my boss to hire brad because he had the audacity to show up to the interview wearing jeans. i mean, this is serious business, this serving of food! if you wear jeans, who is to know how you'll look in a cheap polyester tuxedo?! if someone else had interviewed him he never would have been hired and i never would have known that he'd moved to new york, lived just down the street from me in my very neighborhood, and come to interview.
of course i promised to introduce him to the big city and be his surrogate sister and show him all around. this process has been slower than i'd hoped, considering i'm really a selfish busy busy busy bee with barely enough time to wave hello to my boyfriend every so often. we have, nonetheless, managed to hang out a bit and it turns out to be so much fun. i feel like we have even more in common than just hailing from sebastopol. and now that i know brad is experiencing even more family loss, my heart goes out to him... the top photo was taken on the subway as brad, mieke and i headed to see the arcade fire way uptown at an old vaudeville theatre and poses the question, 'is there something in the sebastopol water that grows enormous dimples?' looking at my sister amy, you might be swayed to believe it's true!

the arcade fire rocking us all by letting hundreds of people storm the stage....
photos courtesy of mieke