Bonita

It’s been a long time since I could confidently say that I made a new friend, one that I want to be closer to.

Well, I am saying it now, I made a new friend. We can call her Bonita, for privacy reasons ;) (and because she reminds me of a great song by A Tribe Called Quest)

I met her at work — Bonita was my customer, and I helped her make a decision on which vehicle to purchase. I can say for a fact that I felt a connection to her immediately. Literally, the moment she walked into the dealership, I knew she was the customer I had spoken with on the phone earlier that day, and I was drawn to her, especially her eyes, deep deep blue, beautiful eyes.

We went on our test drive (I typically never go on test drives with my customers, I just don’t need to, but I did with her). I liked how she drove, aggressive and confident — similar to how I drive — tells you a lot about a person. Not afraid, not full of hesitation — just go, and go with confidence! She has that, and it’s endearing.

I told her where to turn, and she did, and then she took control of the route — I liked that too, she knew where she wanted to go. She knew what she wanted.

I tried my best to go over the features of the vehicle, but I was distracted — I explained how to turn on the adaptive cruise control and she did. Shortly afterwards, her legs were crossed on the driver seat, up on the dash, and back crossed on the driver seat — she was flexible, and brave. She wanted to make sure the vehicle was designed for her to be able to do those things on road trips…I love road trips… I remember thinking “I wanna know this person!”. She seemed a tad shocked that I was okay with her doing that during our test drive, it was hilarious!

I could tell Bonita held something in her, something perplexing, but beautiful at the same time…life experience, lots of it — her eyes drew me in — the mask forces you to look at the eyes, and if you do it right, you can see so much of a person’s story without any words. Her story resonated with me. I could tell she was sad, but was not sure why yet.

We talked about philosophy briefly, spirituality, culture, writing and other things you typically do not talk to strangers about…it was a solid and genuine connection. We were not strangers…

Bonita did not buy the car from me that day — but I knew for some reason, that she would be coming back, and to be honest, I didn’t really care if she bought a car from me or not, I just wanted to see her again.

And she did, later that day — she had forgotten her drivers license in the vehicle we test drove — I found it, and sent her a text letting her know her license was safe with me (honestly, there was a flash of relief when I saw her license on the driver seat, I thought to myself “oh good, I get to see her again!”.

Bonita came back, with baked goods to thank me for my time with her — so kind, so thoughtful — something I would do — I thought again, “I really wanna know this person!”.

She came back the following day, with her sister — it was strange, meeting her sister, not a bad strange though. When we all sat at my desk, I felt as though we’ve all sat together before — it was familiar and comfortable. I could tell these were good people.

I have not written much lately, something I used to love to do. Writing has always been the most effective way for me to express myself — spoken word is not always a great way for me to express my feelings — it’s been rough not writing, but I have not been inspired to do so, until…Bonita…gracias…

When Bonita and I spoke about writing, she mentioned Medium — I’ve had customers suggest many different websites and forums to me over the years, and have NEVER EVER taken any of their suggestions seriously — I’ve been given YouTube channels to follow, blogs to read, books to check out, podcasts to listen to. Every single one, I just had no interest. This time was different. I wanted to take her suggestion, and I did — and here I am. Thank you Bonita…

She even suggested a podcast, and I listened, and even though the dude rubbed me the wrong way, I appreciated the subject, and it brought out many thoughts that stimulated meaningful conversation. She stimulates and challenges me. Yeah, finally, a friend that can stimulate and challenge me — it’s been a while. Again, thank you Bonita…

Bonita texted me, and I texted back. Even our text conversations were interesting — and she asked if we could meet up for food and drink — and I was more than happy to accept.

We met up, last night — though I am usually bored after an hour or so of on the surface, small talk-ish, sometimes political conversations — it was not that way last night, at all — I enjoyed looking at her, Bonita had my full attention, those eyes again, just pulling me in and keeping me there — I didn’t want the night to end, and that is rare for me…thank you Bonita, thank you for sharing that with me, and allowing me to share that with you.

Things are a little complex in my life at the moment — they may be a little complex in Bonita’s life as well. Big changes have been in the works, and it feels as though, even though Bonita seems to have lost hope in things like synchronicity and destiny (with good reason), our paths have crossed at the perfect moment — I’ve got a friend in Bonita, and I hope she knows, she’s got a friend in me.

I’m excited to start this new chapter of my life, discovering a new person, and in turn discovering more about ourselves….thank you Bonita…muy bien!