Thursday, September 11, 2008

Another 9/11 Lunch with Joe Wikert

As if meeting Michelle Obama yesterday wasn't excitement enough for one week, today I met blogger and Wiley VP Joe Wikert for lunch. He's an all-around great guy and I've looked up to him since the day he hired me in 1991.

Ironically, I haven't seen Joe since 9/11--the actual 9/11, seven years ago today. That day we'd planned to meet for lunch to talk about a job he had open. Even though the world was turned upside-down that morning, we still met, along with Chris Webb, another well-known publishing blogger who also worked in Joe's group. I was so unnerved by the morning's events that I think I shook throughout the entire lunch. But the quasi-interview seemed like a breeze in contrast to what was going on in New York.

The job wasn't quite what I wanted at the time, but we've stayed in touch. I won't bore you again with the story of how last summer he urged me to step up this blog, but I'm so glad he did. Today we had a great time catching up on each other's families, careers, and blogs. I made him promise we won't wait another seven years to connect again (seeing as how we cross paths every single day!).

No comments: