George is such a handsome gentlekitty!!!
Daily Kitten Chat Forum » Introductions
Introducing Kilroy
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Posted 3 years ago by cricketsmama #
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Loving your story, Kilroy! Great writing skills, and George is one handsome dude! Redford & Mitzi have sent treats and a fur-end invite!More story, please....
Posted 3 years ago by rainingwolf #
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Morning, all. Before I move on in our story, just a quick bit of business. We got a memo at work yesterday spelling out the rules for online communications, which basically say that we're not supposed to talk about where we work, because then anything else we say might be taken as representing the company's views, and not our own. So, if you could all just forget where I work, that would be helpful :) and I'll try not to have any opinions that might get me in trouble (not too hard in this "fluffy" place). If I do happen to express an opinion on something, it's just that, my opinion, and not that of my company. Also, I won't be posting from work anymore; shouldn't have been in the first place. I'll poke my head in occasionally, but will only post from home.
With that out of the way, where was I? Oh right, New York. So there I was, once again preparing to move clear across the country, and I wasn't taking much more with me than I did the first time. I like to think I learned a few things from my first big leap, so this time around I contacted my alma mater and asked if they had any ideas where someone might stay in NY while they got their bearings, preferably somewhere that wouldn't cost a year's salary every month. That's how I ended up at a women's residential hotel on 34th St. Just up the street from Macy's, it was originally built to house the "shopgirls" who worked there. For not very much money by New York standards, one got a room and 2 meals a day. The rooms were like small dorm rooms and the bathroom was down the hall, but it was clean, and safe, and less than 2 blocks from work. I think some of the original shopgirls still lived there, but there was an interesting mix of people; students, office workers, not-quite-starving artists, and every summer, a "gaggle" of ballet students who came to the city for summer training with the big dance companies. Oh, and no men allowed above the first floor.
I immersed myself in learning my new job, but didn't get out to explore the city much because, honestly, I was scared to death of it. Scared of the noise, scared of the crowds, really scared of the subways (I think I imagined it was still the 1970s when the city really was dangerous). So I kept my head down, did my job, and lived for my twice-weekly phone calls with Ted.
This went on for much longer than it should have. I flew home to Seattle every chance I got, but I started to notice that Ted's promises to come the other way never panned out. He claimed it would cost too much, since there was no way he could stay with me. The thing was, though, that his best friend in the whole world was, at the time, playing first base for the Yankees. I have to think that he and his wife probably had a spare bedroom where an old friend could have crashed.
About a year after I moved to New York, my dad died of skin cancer. It happened insanely fast, so fast that I didn't have time to get there to say goodbye. At least I know he lived long enough to be proud of me; all the years I lived in Seattle he wondered when I was going to get a "real job", but when I went into the news business you would have thought I'd hung the moon, he was so thrilled.
Six months after dad died, I made one last trip to Seattle. Ted and I moved all my stuff out of his parents house; some of it went into storage, most of it went to Goodwill or the garbage. I figured anything I hadn't missed in all that time I didn't really need. Ted asked me not to let his parents know we were breaking up, so I stayed in their house, ate with them, spent time with them, and tried not to cry in front of them. They were the very definition of "good folks", and I wish I had stood up to their son and insisted on saying goodbye to them.
<more later, but not until this weekend>
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Still enjoying the read!
Posted 3 years ago by MadcatwomanintheUK #
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oh me too Kilroy and totally understand about the work disclaimer :)
Posted 3 years ago by cricketsmama #
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Thanks for the latest installment Kilroy! Understand about work. Will check in over the weekend. You have a good one!
Posted 3 years ago by Lynn from PA 6/8 #
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Kilroy, you are wonderful! Thanks for the heartfelt story. Keep 'em coming!
Posted 3 years ago by BCAMflorida227 #
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Thanks for sharing your story, Kilroy!
Posted 3 years ago by Kitten Whisperer #
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Nice to meet ya, Killroy. Welcome to TDK. What an interesting life you have lived (so far). I think I would bore everyone to death if I did a memoir.
Love your kitty. Sent a friends' request....Posted 3 years ago by artistabobbi TX 1/17 #
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We're heading into the homestretch, folks, but things get a little grim at this point. Breaking up with Ted was really hard, and I went through a pretty long stretch of feeling miserable, wondering just what the heck I was doing with my life. The job was good, but I really didn't have a life outside of work. And then September 11th, 2001 happened, and I REALLY didn't have a life outside of work.
I won't bore you all with where I was and what it was like, but all of a sudden I found myself researching things I didn't want to know anything about, while worrying about my colleagues who had to go downtown to the disaster area every day. At least I was safe at a desk, but I didn't sleep much and spent too much time on the weekends at the Irish pub next to the office.
I don't know what would have happened if this had gone on indefinitely, but I knew I needed to get away, and I stumbled on just the thing - a 2 week library seminar at Oxford University. I had always wanted to go to England and Oxford sounded lovely. I begged my boss for the 2 weeks off and starting pinching pennies to pay for the trip.
The Oxford trip was everything I'd hoped for; 2 weeks of books and history, lovely people who loved books as much as I do, and fresh air that didn't stink of god-knew-what. The first night there someone asked me "What was it like?", meaning 9/11, and I politely said that I'd rather not talk about it, while wondering how anyone could use the past tense. It was May of 2002 and as far as New York was concerned that day was still happening. But that was the only time it came up and I immersed myself in musty old books, afternoon tea and sightseeing.
Sanity restored, I flew home and went back to work, having no idea that my life was about to change completely, again.
<more to come>
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Okay I am hooked!
How lucky for you to get to go to Oxford!! I envy that!Posted 3 years ago by cricketsmama #
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Patiently (ha!) waiting for the next installment..
Posted 3 years ago by Crazycatman - CA #
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Kilroy, I love the story of you life! Keep it up!!!!
{{looks at watch}} when will there be more?
Posted 3 years ago by BCAMflorida227 #
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What a cliffhanger, Kilroy! I'm eager to know more. :)
Posted 3 years ago by Kitten Whisperer #
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OK, I'm back, having kicked hubby's butt on the Saturday NY Times crossword (I know, I'm evil, but I *warned* him I was competitive about these things).
About 2 weeks after I got home from Oxford I stopped by the pub for a glass of wine and to watch a baseball game. Having had my sanity somewhat restored, I wasn't planning on drinking much (had been doing far too much of that), so I brought a book with me to while away the time. Down at the end of the bar was a guy I had talked to once before, when I also had my nose in a book, a mystery set in Oxford which he had read. I remember thinking he was good looking for an "older" guy, and he liked good books, but that was the extent of it.
Well, on this particular Saturday I was still hyped up from my trip, and I started telling the bartender all about it. I could almost see his eyes glazing over as I rambled on about first editions of Shakespeare and the ancient custom of chaining library books to shelves. I'll never know what possessed him, but he decided that the guy at the end of the bar would be fascinated, so he started trying to get Mr. K to come sit next to me (you knew it was Mr. K, right?). He was having none of it and kept telling the bartender to leave him alone, but finally he had to get up to visit the Gents, at which point the bartender picked up his beer and moved it over next to where I was sitting. The rest, to use an awful cliche, was history.
Mr. K is not in any way, shape or form the sort of person I ever imagined I'd end up with. He's 26 years my senior, worked his entire career as a postmaster in the postal service, and is a bit of a carouser, to put it nicely (although he's mellowed somewhat in recent years). But he loves travel, and good books, and crossword puzzles, and for some reason, me. And it's mutual.
I moved in with him when I realized I was spending more time at his place than at mine, and last December we made it official. We took the subway downtown to the Municipal Building and got married by the city clerk, with just 2 friends as witnesses. All of a sudden I had 2 stepdaughters who are only a few years younger than I am; luckily, we'd had plenty of time to get over the weirdness of it all and we're good friends now.
So, that's my life. I try not to worry too much that the contraption in my head will stop working someday, although it probably will and will have to be fixed. I've been lucky; a lot of people with hydro spend their whole lives having "revisions", which means surgery, because the technology is kind of primitive and doesn't always work very well. I knock on wood occasionally and hope for the best. In the meantime Mr. K and I plan our next trip and enjoy the antics of our crazy cat. I tell him he has to stick around for another 40-50 years, because I don't know what I'd do without him.
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*stands up and applauds*
Awesome life story!!!! How wonderful how you and Mr. K met. It was meant to be!!!! Then you got George, you can't top that :)Posted 3 years ago by cricketsmama #
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I love it!!!!!! Oh, Kilroy, you made me feel like I was there all along!!! Thank you!!!
Posted 3 years ago by BCAMflorida227 #
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*jumps up on bar to applaud!!!*
*sniff*.... I just love happy endings!!!
Posted 3 years ago by WillowandWindismom #
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Brava! Brava! Brava! What a great life story, Kilroy! You are exactly where you were meant to be and surrounded by love. :D
Posted 3 years ago by Kitten Whisperer #
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Me too, love happy endings!
Posted 3 years ago by paulajeanne #
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Wow Kilroy, thanks for the introduction. When will the book be published?? ;)
Posted 3 years ago by Crazycatman - CA #
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