The giddiness of it all

Do you know how when you were an adolescent, you had an idol, a celebrity if you will, and when you had the good fortune to come face to face with them, you had to swallow your heart that jumped to your wisdom teeth, you became extremely aware of the stomach because it was skipping between your bladder and your lungs, and someone put a mimblewimble on your tongue?

I met Barb Taub today.

I don’t remember how I landed on Barb’s blog site many years ago. Perhaps, in the course of mindless blog hopping, I dropped in and then Barb had cast a body bind curse on visitors, and I was never allowed to leave. Since that fateful day, Barb joined the ranks of Wodehouse in my life – people to go to to laugh, especially when life is harvesting a bounty of lemons. 

Barb, if you didn’t know, has been travelling to India every year with her best friends, until COVID put a damper on things. This year, she made it to my side of the country. I think I froze when I read that Barb was breathing the same pollution as me. 

After much trepidation, I messaged her to ask if I could stare at her from afar (in a non-creepy way, if that were possible), when she visited the city I call home, because I knew she would have to visit my city to at least take her flight back to Glasgow.

She agreed not only to let me stare, but also say hello.

Oh those butterflies.

I have no idea what I spoke today – I know there were a lot of words that fell out of my mouth, mostly disjoint and making no sense, I am sure. Still, we chatted (I think, again, all I know was that she was talking sense) for more than an hour, until she was late to her prior appointment. 

So yes, I met Barb Taub today.

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