All the roads had closed. I walked home in a murky twilight, head down. Next day I awoke the happiest I had ever been–and not a sou in the house. Nada. I put The Pretenders on and lay in bed just there–not a single thought. (That alone is strange.) Phone rang. Hello, I sang. “Hi remember the make up artist at the commercial shoot? I’m at the bank and have $100 for you.” Okay. (Years later I asked her what induced her to do that. And she said–with no recollection today–”You know those red dot ticker tape things over the teller windows? They spelled out “Susan needs money’.”) Minutes later I am dancing to Crissy and I have five twenties in my hand. Phone rings. “Hi. Remember Darrell? He’s looking for five people to staff his monthly travel magazine. (I had moved to New York to continue serious writing.) I put stuff in a shopping bag (no purse and it was red like the dress I put on–for an interview? Strange again.) I rounded the corner into Darrell’s office. (The best mag editor in NYC also.) And he looks and says, “Anyone who comes to the interview with an Elizabeth Arden bag gets the job.” Ha!
Two weeks later I was in Paris, all expenses paid and town car on the other end interviewing the Minister of Tourism in Paris, getting to write long and learning from a master. As my mother said, the one thing she wished she could leave her children (I said, “A yacht?”) was more faith. Faith IS it. Not karma, not any of it–plain wonderful faith–it’s what I was showed and how my future was already there–I had to be calm to receive it. What if I had left my apt that morning and run around trying to find all of this? (That job, by the way, lasted over 15 years and paid the rent happily for many moons.)
Sincerely, Susan Moriarty–Still Learning
