Temporandom

We are all adults now.

I ran into Donna the other day. When I last saw her, she was a thin, pretty, dark-haired teenaged girl, and I was a teenaged boy. We were girlfriend and boyfriend for all of about two weeks. I asked her to "go with me" because that is what we did back then to declare our relationship. She said yes.

In those two weeks, I don't think we kissed or even held hands. After the two weeks, we broke up, and I went back to seeing her sister, Julie. Julie and I would be a couple for about a year and a half, until I left for college where my whole world expanded leaving no room for her.

I don't know why I dated Julie for so long. We obviously enjoyed each other and most likely saw a future together. We regularly shared 'I love yous' which isn't strange or uncommon. Most teenagers don't REALLY know what those three words mean in a realistic or practical sense, but it's so romantic!  As soon as I stepped foot outside Maine in September 1978, however, they became meaningless.

Such is the way of youth.

So, I ran into Donna, and it has been more than 35 years since we last saw each other. We quickly caught up. I learned that she had been married to an alcoholic who she divorced in 1988. She has been a single mom since, raising two kids to adulthood. She learned that her stepfather physically abused her and her siblings as children, and she suffers from chronic migraines now. There was a near death experience ten years ago. She has discovered holistic living and religiously practices laws of attraction. She left the church and absolutely will never go back. Given that Julie and Donna, though sisters, don't share the same father and the man that raised them was a different fellow altogether, I'm not sure why the church is to blame for her issues. But, whatever. She did mention a 'horrible experience' - I have no idea what she meant by that.

After she told me all this, all I could say in response was, "I'm sorry to hear that you've had to go through so much, but also glad that you seem to have gained control over much of it." What else was there to say?

Donna showed me a current picture of Julie and her husband. Like all of us who have lived into our fifties, they look significantly different.  It was difficult to see how different because the picture wasn't particularly clear. But I saw enough to be able to compare the memory pictures I have with something more recent. The differences weren't stunning like they would have been a few years ago. I've witnessed too many changes in that time to be taken aback anymore.

We are all adults now, with adult bodies and lives.

Adult stories.

The exuberant flirtations, the adolescent nervousness, the wild-eyed energies are all characteristics of the past now. The joys and pains of youth have all been supplanted by the joys and pains of adulthood. Neither holds an advantage over the other. There is just simple divergence.

I will probably stay in touch with Donna through the internet, but I won't try to contact Julie.  That train left the station in 1978 on a track that went far afield from its original heading. Or maybe not.

Perhaps temporary relationships are just layovers in life, and our original heading is yet to be discovered.

Then again, everything in life is temporary.

Beyond the Closed Doors

The Office has not closed its doors.

Even though the show aired its series finale recently, the fictitious world of Dunder Mifflin still exists selling paper in Scranton, Pennsylvania. When David Wallace purchased Dunder Mifflin from Sabre Printers, no other branches were mentioned as being in operation, so I assume that the Scranton branch is all that he bought. Given that David doesn't have an office in that branch, it is rather curious as to where he spends his days. The New York headquarters were liquidated in the sale, and Sabre headquarters was located in Florida.

Whatever.

Dunder Mifflin Scranton is still in operation with the following employees.

Dwight Shrute is the manager.
Angela Shrute is accounting.
Phyllis Vance and Clark Green are sales. Pete Miller is a customer service rep.
Erin Hannon is the receptionist.
Devon White was rehired and took Creed's position in quality assurance.

Gone are...

Accounting - Kevin Malone (fired for incompetence and now owns a bar in town).
Accounting - Oscar Martinez (running for State Senate).
Sales - Jim Halpert (moving to Austin, Texas to work in sports management).
Sales/Office Manager - Pam Halpert (moving to Austin with hubby Jim).
Darryl Philbin (moved to Austin).
Human Resources - Toby Flenderson (fired).
Quality Assurance - Creed Bratton (arrested).
Purchasing/Supplier Relations - Meredith Palmer (assumed to be pursuing a position in her Ph.D field).
Sales/Manager - Andy Bernard (left to work at Cornell University).
Special Projects Manager - Nellie Bertram (moved to Poland).

It would seem that much hiring will be needed to bring The Office back up to strength. Probably another salesperson or two, maybe one more accountant. Purchasing/supplier relations can probably be added to the receptionist's duties as all she does is answer the phone.  It always seemed like The Office was overstaffed anyway, though their sales volume was rarely mentioned if at all.

The series finale of The Office has come and gone, and while it didn't prove as emotional as the M*A*S*H series finale, it had its moments of sentiment. It also concluded with some neat lines.

Pam: I think an ordinary paper company like Dunder-Mifflin was a great subject for a documentary. There's a lot of beauty in ordinary things. Isn't that kind of the point?

Jim: Everything I have I owe to this job...this stupid, wonderful, boring, amazing job.

Andy: I wish there was a way to know you're in the good old days before you've actually left them.

Toby: I have six roommates, which are better than friends because they have to give you one month's notice before they leave.

Dwight: I never thought I'd say this, but I think I ate too much bone marrow.

Michael: I feel like all my kids grew up, and then they married each other. It's every parent's dream.

And all these lines succinctly summed up each character we came to know quite well over the nine seasons the show ran.

Don't you get the sense that a new series could be created about Pam and Jim and their new life in Texas? For that matter, a short series down the road about how Dunder Mifflin has fared with all the changes? Of course, a Michael and Holly show may be interesting. I'm not saying that any of this should happen, but the series finale didn't really seem to end anything except for the circumstances with which we had grown familiar. If anything it felt like it was establishing all sorts of new beginnings instead.

So it wasn't with a sense of sweet sorrow that the finale ran, but with a necessary closure to some story lines that had existed for a long time and some that had developed in the last season. There was a good balance of emotion, humor and lightheartedness that made the show a pleasure to watch. The only nod to pathos was Toby's few comments, but he was never a real sympathetic character anyway.

Creed, formerly of the Grass Roots, wrote a song for the episode and performed it. The song wasn't played in its entirety, just enough to underscore the finale with a haunting beauty. I will end this post and my time in The Office with the lyrics.

All the Faces
by Creed Bratton

I saw a friend today, it had been a while
And we forgot each other's names
But it didn't matter 'cause deep inside
The feeling still remained the same

We talked of knowing one before you've met
And you feel more than you see
And other worlds that lie in spaces in between
And angels you can see

And all the faces that I know
Have that same familiar glow
I think I must have known them somewhere once before
All the faces that I know

And all the faces we see each and every day
When I get home at night, you're the face I need
And when my mind's absorbed on my private little screen
And I'm walking blind through a sea of unknown men
I hear a voice reminding me there across the street
Walks an old forgotten friend

And we don't have to say a word
It's really better left unsaid
Just lights through eyes that recognize
All the faces that I know
All the faces that I know

And all the faces we see each and every day
When I get home at night, you're the face I need
When I get home at night, you're the only face I need


Now available for download here:  All the Faces: Amazon.com