la vie en rose

Last week, on my way from downtown over to Madison Valley after a bid, I cut through Capitol Hill. I took the route I used to when I worked at a real estate office on Capitol Hill during college. J says I drive on autopilot most of the time - if I'm used to turning left out of the driveway, I'll turn left, even if I should be going right. So cutting over Broadway by way of John, then over to Thomas by Group Health was so easy, I didn't even have to think. I drove by my former employer Mary Ann's house (her basement was converted into her office) and saw that it was for sale. I e-mailed the listing agent this morning out of curiosity, just to know why she's selling it. I've always wondered what ended up happening to Mary Ann.


Mary Ann made a lot of money, but she was constantly in debt (surprisingly massive amounts). She was horrible with finances - one time I had to drive to a neighborhood center for Seattle City Light to pay her electric bill that day or else her power would be shut off. She would go to the Nordstrom's downtown and buy 2 Chanel blouses at $600 each, just so one could be taken apart in order for the other size to fit properly (I know that because I had to go pick one of them up). She was really involved in these self-help seminars and retreats to help her be a better business woman. She gave those people thousands of dollars, but I always thought they were a fraud. She would listen in on these conference calls for an hour each morning and walk around the office on her headset, pumping her fists and shouting out affirmations. One time she knocked over a tissue box and looked at me, sitting across the room on the computer, to come and pick it up for her. Drove me crazy. She actually made me do calls with an assistant's coach. The guy kept giving me assignments and of course I wasn't doing them (I was in college - I had real homework), and then he said, "I need to know how serious you are about this." I told him, "I'm not. I just want to do my job and graduate. I'm not interested in these seminars." Sometimes she would yell at me because she thought my handwriting was too big on my to-do list. She wouldn't give me a Friday afternoon off so I could drive to Spokane in time for Em's wedding (that didn't end up happening, so I had all the more reason to be there). I cried and cried and she finally relented.


And then there were times where she was incredibly generous and downright pleasant. After someone at the main office commented on my attire (Value Village chic), Mary Ann took me shopping. Big time shopping at places like Banana Republic and Nordstrom. We had a great time together and had a laugh when that same person noticed the difference in what I was wearing and I told her I found it all in a dumpster. Sometimes I would see Mary Ann struggling with lifting something or holding something (she had very severe rheumatoid arthritis) and I would realize the kind of pain that she was constantly in. She told me about crab bakes on the beach with her former husband and how in love they were, and how he died in her arms from a heart attack.

During my final quarter of school, when I had to take an African American history class that was only offered in the morning, she told me I would have to cut back my hours and she would also have to cut my pay. So I quit and sold all those clothes she bought me to Buffalo Exchange. I wonder if that listing agent will ever get back to me about what happened to her.