The monthly luncheon with my insurance/entrepreneurial group coincided with St. Patrick’s Day weekend. So, we sipped the house punch throughout lunch, but followed up with an Irish decaf coffee topped with green honey-based whipped cream and edible glitter.
Our rosy red cheeks and smiles may be deceptive, but the three of us represented a wealth of financial knowledge, which overlapped in some areas. Yet it was the knowledge that we brought to the table that made this meeting so valuable.
I’m currently studying real estate investments and tax law. Another colleague had recently started a new job with the city and discussed her compensation and benefit package. The other colleague had recently picked up another insurance agent gig and was in the process of buying a new house.
We intertwined those pursuits over some good food, personal and professional triumphs, and lots of laughs. And without formally stating it, we all walked away with a renewed sense of what we each needed to do by the next lunch meeting in April.
One of my Austin Writers Roulette poets launched a book on St. Patrick’s Day. He wore a discrete shamrock and encouraged everyone who was reading to wear green. He brought together friends and family from out of town and out of state.
He started off the event by read a few selections from his book.
Then he gave me such a warm introduction to join him on stag. I spoke about how I inadvertently became a part of his latest book. In August 2017, the theme for the Roulette was “Old School Soul Food.” For a previous roulette, he’d written very poignantly about his grandmother’s cooking. I’d looked forward to his participation for this upcoming roulette. And therein started the argument! He told me that he couldn’t write more on the subject. I pushed back, saying that he couldn’t possibly have just one story about his grandmother’s cooking. We went for another round. That back and forth via email became the “Blue Bowl Epistolary.” (My participation starts at timestamp 13:12)
Although she could have upstaged the whole event, thanks to being the daughter of a famous spoken word poet, she was totally down to earth. She read her contribution to the book, and then followed up with another piece not in the book as all we participants had.
After the reading, we all hung around talking, especially since people who’d attending the event wanted us to autograph their copy of the book.
The gathering was a quasi-family reunion whereby everyone came from out of town to support the book launch.
The one misstep I made was handing my camera phone to someone who normally takes pictures with an actual camera.
He loved the speed at which he could tap the screen and take rapid-fire pictures until I took it from him.