His out-of-the-blue text read "Wanna have lunch?" Since I believed him to be in Boston (where he lives), I was confused. Ummmm.
"Are you in NYC?" I asked. My friend Zim replied that he was. He's an International Man of Mystery - you never know where he will turn up.
A few hours later - we met at a divey (but decent) Chinese food place and caught up on life. "What brings you to New York?" I asked.
"I'll tell you, but I'm going to edit bits out."
"You're going to lie to me by omission?"
"Yes, I'm going to lie by omission."
Mysterious.
I met Zim through church, shortly after moving to Boston ten years ago. Our friendship was cemented through parties, retreats, brunches, and movie nights (Zim was horrified to learn that my roommates and I had never seen Indiana Jones; I was horrified to learn that his favorite comedy was Jingle All the Way).
When - four years after arriving in Boston - I set my sights on New York, Zim helped me make the move. On a sunny September morning we caught a Greyhound bus from South Station, dragged my suitcases through the subway, dropped them at my friend's Upper East Side apartment, then wandered through the Frick collection, watched roller-skaters in Central Park, and checked out the dinos at Natural History. We parted ways at Port Authority - he bussed back to Boston while I stayed and figured out life here.
Or tried to. Am still trying to. Haven't quite got it figured out yet.
Which I confessed to Zim on Thursday, as we discussed purpose and career goals and life ambitions. Then we moved on to lighter topics: dipthongs vs. monophthongs (see napkin scratchings, above), his family back in Africa, avoiding blue comedy in Improv shows, and a scientist who has figured out how to stop the aging process.
Zim was especially excited about this last topic - the endless possibilities of a (potentially) endless life. My head hurt pondering all the ethical and practical logistics of it.
We are very different, Zim and I. I'm so thankful for friends who challenge me to look at the world in new ways.
Zim: here's hoping your mysterious ways mysteriously bring you back to NYC again sometime soon.
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