Friend #3 is the only one of the Numbered Friends still at TeddyJ. And even that will not last for long: today was the first of her two (two!) two retirement parties.
It was well attended by thirty coworkers from the last 18 years, and they all went around and shared stories of her generosity and expertise.
My turn came early and, instead of sharing a work story, I related this story of how we saw a man dressed as a slice of pizza and she made me laugh so hard no noise came out.
She was appalled, and said immediately, “I’ve known you since the nineties and that’s all you’ve got?”
“Well, you make me laugh,” I said. And I know she would have preferred I talk about her technical acumen, but she’s my friend first and my co-worker second. And every time someone said how much they’d miss her, I thought, “I’ll see her at music trivia on the 20th.”