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French Woods Mallory And Her Fort Lauderdale Friends

Tonight I stood in for my friend at a camp fair.  He's the director of a summer camp for teens.

He was stuck in Maine due to a snowstorm.

I really had no clue how this all worked.  All I knew was, I had to leave work early and run home to pick up a box that had been overnighted to my house with promotional materials to place on a table.

The contents of the box included:

-Promotional brochures (which were handed out to anyone passing by that seemed curious)

-A pull out poster that stood about three feet high and clipped on to a metal pole with the poster rolling back into the base like a window shade would roll back into itself.  It was freestanding, stood upright, and included a fun little carrying case.

-A hat (Which I never ended up wearing)

-Informational paperwork inside plastic prop up displays

-Lead sheets (which never collected any signatures)

So, the plastic prop up displays broke in transit, then I cut my finger on the plastic shards opening the box.  I managed to get them situated on the table without the plastic display cases so that passerby's could read the information.

 

Anyways, I arrived at the camp fair and was guided by one of the coordinators to my table.  I quickly setup the display; rolling out the shade and placing the tent like pole up clipping it in place, fanning promo brochures out, then I placed the informational papers that were previously in the plastic stands that cracked out beside the brochures.

The coordinator instructed me that it would be best to stand in front of the table instead of sitting in a chair behind the table.  So, I stood in front of the table with my camp logo'ed windbreaker on.

I began to chat between prospective families with the adjacent camps.

One guy at a table nearby, turns out, actually, his wife went to the same college I did, and she also went there when I was there.  Turns out also, that his camp was the same camp one of my college friends worked at.

Everyone had fancy displays, some with videos on loop on laptops.  We manned our tables and chatted up prospective parents and campers.

As I chatted with more of the surrounding camp reps... I found out that, in the row I had been assigned...

Tables to my left, and tables to my right, had representatives from Fort Lauderdale.  One of them was someone, in my mind, I call French Woods Mallory from Fort Lauderdale.  Although, they all know one another.  Apparently the camp, though located here in PA, and another up in Mass, is owned and operated out of a base office down in Fort Lauderdale.  So, that's where they were all from and all live.

We chatted about Florida.  I informed them about my... Previous experience with Fort Lauderdale.

Mallory told me there's more to Fort Lauderdale than an ex.  I acknowledged that she's probably right.

Anyways... The night wound down and we wrapped things up.  Eventually the booths were closed up and everyone went on their merry way.

I said goodnight and safe flight to Mallory and her Fort Lauderdale friends.

I thought it was funny that this Mallory person also was representing a teen camp as was I...

It's just interesting because this weekend and this morning, I had such intense feelings about that very area that she is from.  But as soon as we began chatting, I felt different.  I immediately deleted some Facebook status updates I'd made that had made mention of the same area.  I felt bad I guess... She seemed nice...

And as she said, there's more to Fort Lauderdale than an ex.

Really though, what amuses me most, is that I wasn't even supposed to be standing there talking to her.  I was supposed to be at home, or, anywhere but there.  The camp director was supposed to be the one talking to her, not me.

The universe has a strange way.  The universe had me bump into this girl, so that those status updates would be deleted.  Maybe?  Who knows... Seems possible.

Or maybe the universe made me bump into this girl because I'm supposed to text/email/call my ex...

Yeah, I don't think so.  I'm not about to do that, especially on the off chance she's completely happy with that guy that she was with the last time I had a peek at her social media.  Why would I want to bother her?  Probably not a good idea.  Plus tomorrow is Valentine's Day.  What if she's got dinner plans with him... Or something... and here I am like... "The universe told me to call you!!!!"

Bad idea.

So, anyways... That's the story of how I met French Woods Mallory and her Fort Lauderdale friends.

We didn't exchange information or anything, so off into the night both of us went, never to cross paths again.

Life is like that.