"Tigger" In A Business Suit | Previous Challenge Entry

how it works

TITLE: "Tigger" In A Business Suit | Previous Challenge Entry
By Judy Schwab
04/06/05
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The first time I met Craig I was working as the receptionist at the corporate headquarters of a major oil company. He came bounding into the lobby and paced back and forth in front of my desk, resembling a red-haired Tigger in a business suit. First time visitors, especially young salesmen on their first call, were always somewhat nervous. Craig was moreso and he seemed to think talking, a lot, would help relieve some of his angst. I was his captive audience.
He noticed I was trying unsuccessfully to place a tape in a player I had brought to work with me and offered to help. When he saw the name of the tape he commented that it was something his mom would enjoy. I explained that I used the tapes to inspire me when I wrote and of course he asked what that might be. When he found out it was poetry, his face lit up and he went on to tell me about his mom. She had cancer but was in remission and she too wrote poetry. Would I be interested in writing to her? We were the same age and had so much in common, he said. How could I say no?
It wasn’t long till JoAnn and I were corresponding regularly, sharing our verses and the day to day adventures of our separate families. Once, Craig brought her with him from Columbus, Ohio on his sales call, leaving her with me to visit till he returned. That was our only person to person visit.
JoAnn’s remission ended within a year and the cancer claimed her life. Every piece of correspondence she sent me is still in a cherished file.
Craig returned to our office on a regular basis and each time he came in I knew I would be greeted with his boyish grin and his firm handshake. I found myself looking forward to his visits and we would often grab a bite to eat on my lunchbreak. He would regale me with his absolutely awful (lame) jokes or share his latest puns. I was expected to reciprocate.
It has been ten years since Craig, AKA “Tigger”, bounded into that office and into my life. We have kept in touch via phone or emails, as the corporate headquarters where I worked moved to Texas and Craig moved to Georgia. Me? I stayed in Pennsylvania to take care of my mom. This coming Christmas holiday we are making plans to be reunited after a decade’s absence and I can’t wait to see my “adopted” son again.
As I look back over these years we have been friends, it occurs to me that we may not know why certain people “just happen” to appear in our lives and we do not always know if it is for a “reason”, a “season” or a “lifetime”. What we do know is that they have added something incredible to our life story and without them a page of our personal history would be incomplete.
When I see him I plan to give him two hugs, one for me, and another for JoAnn. Knowing Craig as I do, he won’t be surprised, he’ll just bounce on his “springs” as Tigger would do, and give me that smile that melts my heart.
And even when he leaves and says “Ta-Ta for now” I won’t be sad, because it’s impossible to stay away too long from the Hundred-Acre-Wood where friends are forever and time just doesn’t exist.

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