Day 17 in my Month of Love is dedicated to Alice R Naughton. Life is such an interesting ride and when I look at all the twists and turns my life has taken, I feel like it's been the ride of a lifetime and it's not over yet!
Alice and I met in 1996 when I was running the employment agency in San Francisco. She came in and registered and as luck would have it, I was able to put her to work right away. I had over 100 temporary employees, but some of them stood out, Alice was one of the few that are still in my life today.
Alice and I became friends as she would come in each Friday to pick up her paycheck and we would chat. I don't recall the exact thing that changed our relationship from professional to personal, but it may have been Hotty Roddy's self-defense class we hosted. In any case, Alice and I became friends, in fact, we not only became good friends, but we also became roommates!
As roommates we had a ton of fun, we went country dancing, to local events in both Alameda and San Francisco, and we spent many nights drinking wine and laughing. Our lives moved forward with Alice meeting someone and marrying him, and me leaving the job in San Francisco and starting my own recruiting firm near my place in Alameda.
After 9/11, my firm took a huge hit, in fact, where I had a thriving business on 9/10, on 9/12 I couldn't call my own number to make the phones ring. My hand was forced to close my business but it wasn't a tragedy, Dave and I were together at this point and we planned to move to the Sacramento area so this seemed to be as good a time as any. Alice was married and happy and we stayed in touch but we didn't get to see each other nearly as much as we would have liked, but we always found time for a quick call.
Once in Sacramento, we both had many life changes but when Dave and I started ZipperBack Gloves, I knew I wanted Alice on my team. She helped me with design, marketing and was instrumental in the research for not only the products that were similar but also with regard to our patent application and process. ZipperBack Gloves, as great an idea as it was, didn't go like we had hoped. Alice moved to Washington State and remarried the love of her life and has 3 amazing kids. She is an incredible friend, wife, and mom! She is the kind of friend that got on a plane and surprised me for our house warming with no advance warning!
One of the things that forever changed me in my life was something Alice said to me not long after we moved in together in Alameda, "You know when I would come in to get my paychecks, I always thought you were a little, "too happy." I just didn't think someone could authentically be that positive and happy all the time. But after living with you, you are really that happy and positive all the time." WOW! At that moment I felt like I was not only on the right path to becoming who I wanted to be, I was succeeding. Alice, you are my soul sister and it doesn't matter how much time passes between visits, I will love you with all my heart and I'm always here for you.
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