While living and working in Brookline, MA (Fall 1990-Fall 1991), the end of the 80s Decade -- I made friends with my coworkers ("associates") at Stop & Shop. I worked every Friday and Saturday night, 6pm to midnight. I ate and drank with my buddies, Pam and Rachel at Arbuckles Pub. Everyone I knew had two or three jobs! No one could believe I was 29 years old. Pam ("Miss Woman" or "Madam") would boisterously refer to S&S-Brookline as "the ball and chain" and to our manager as "Balls Bacon!" After the bar, we would sit in Pam's car outside of her apartment, up the street from mine, on Aspinwall Avenue. And just talk. Although I didn't like the metro Boston area at all, I made some great friends there who dug me! I often took the "T" (trolley system) into Boston, to North Station and The Haymarket for fresh vegetables. I ate the same thing for dinner all week. There was a coffee shop. My apartment was beautiful but located on a busy street, just at the bend where you could hear the traffic rushing past at all hours. On my day off during the week, I took the "T" to the Museum of Fine Arts where I saw and heard the recorded exhibit, "The Pleasures of Paris," all about the golden age. In my neighborhood, there was a new age bookstore and gift shop as well.
There was a park with a duck pond (the Jewel? or the Strand?) designed by Frederick Law Olmstead. Where I would go to read a book and have a picnic lunch when the weather was warm.
My roommate (aka Nicole) from NYC came to visit me with her boyfriend, "H" who was attending college in Boston at the time.
When I finally made the decision to leave Brookline and the friends I'd made there, it was a painful one.
My friend Pam is now on Facebook. Do ya think I will ever have a face to face again?
