in order to succeed, a million things must go right. in order to fail, only one thing has to go wrong. i admit that on the morning of august ninth i was thinking there’s going to be that one thing today. four friends coming together for lunch at laconda verde in new york city. one coming in from japan. one from brooklyn. one from staten island. and me? i get lost everywhere.
i just didn’t think it could happen.
facebook friend #316 carolyn quinn woke up on that morning and had a completely different mindset!
on may 9th of this year, i met michele piersiak of staten island. she is the 317th facebook friend i have met with since i made the new years resolution to meet all my facebook friends. so often, we have friendships and partnerships that exist online, on the phone, on facebook or twitter or instagram–and it’s important to supplement those interactions with real time.
michele followed the progress of my resolution because she shares a characteristic with me–we are both agoraphobic. we both have awful panic attacks and tend to look for our “safe” zone–and that zone can expand and contract. in my case, it has expanded considerably because of my facebook project. in michele’s case, she had been nearly housebound for more than a year because leaving the house affords too many opportunities for panic. but she’s just too young and pretty and bright and with so much to offer . . . it’s a darn shame to take that away from the world.
i’m a believer in tackling small goals and in doing so creating courage for tackling bigger ones. for michele, a big goal is to become a doctor to help others with this condition. a smaller goal was to have lunch at laconda verde. i said if she could make it to the restaurant in manhattan, i would fly out and take her there. she’s been working on getting out of the house and this morning she would get on the staten island ferry. we picked her up at the station. she was accompanied by her boyfriend anthony.
michele did something that is really important. she planned what she was going to bring. as someone who now lives out of her little orange bag, i totally understand.
we got off the ferry and took a cab to the restaurant. we were met by facebook friend #326 azusa watanabe who had flown in from japan a few days before.
the second most wonderful thing about lunch was dessert! the most wonderful thing was being with friends! after lunch azusa, carolyn and i went to have our auras photographed. michele and anthony went home to staten island. i think michele can do anything she sets her mind to!
