Is He Ezzie? (say this really fast!)

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The phone rang this afternoon. It was a long-distance ring and I number I didn't recognize.

"May I please speak to Pearl?"
"Pardon me?"
"May I please speak to Pearl?"
"Speaking."
"Hi, Pearl. This is Ezzie Goldish."
"I'm sorry, who?"
"Ezzie Goldish."

So, so much for first impressions, huh?

Let me explain...I'd walked into the house not ten minutes earlier so my head wasn't quite there yet; I didn't recognize the phone number or voice; because Ezzie was on a cell phone, his voice was breaking up from time to time, so I didn't hear him clearly; I thought if I was going to hear from Ezzie, it would be tomorrow. So I WAS COMPLETELY THROWN OFF!

I knew Ezzie was coming to a wedding in Toronto, knew it was this evening, but assumed we'd speak tomorrow. What a nice surprise to hear from him!

The irony was that just after 2 p.m. or so, I left my parents' house, where I'd taken my daughter for a lunch visit, and headed northward home.

Sometime closer to 2:30, Ezzie arrived at the home he'd be staying in overnight for the wedding. I happen to know that family, know where they live...about a three minute drive south of my parents.

Ezzie was going to be leaving the house around 5:30 to go to the wedding at a social hall in the north end of the city. That social hall is a 3 minute drive north of where my husband works.

Unfortunately, there was no way we would be able to meet this evening...unless I'd become a Jewish wedding crasher. Listen, anyone can dress up in the right clothes, put on the right jewelery and accessories and walk right in to the chupah or kabbalat panim and mingle with the rest of the guests.

I joked with Ezzie that if I'd crash the wedding, I'd have to be like a limo/car service driver and hold up a sign saying "MR. GOLDISH."

We're not sure we will get a chance to meet tomorrow, as he's somewhat south and I'm somewhat north, but even if we don't, at least we had a chance to have a nice (according to me; for Ezzie maybe it's a different story altogether!) conversation that ran for about 45 minutes.

I teased Ezzie and said that he could be my son 'cause I'm 44 going on 45. He thought that for some reason, I along with several other bloggers, am about 37. DO I HEAR 36 or 35? Going, going...yup, GONE!

I'm a fairly good judge of character, and from Ezzie's blog, and from our conversation and a few emails, I sense that Ezzie is a good hubby, a great daddy, and and all-round nice guy who makes a good friend.

If we do get to meet, I'll add to this post. And if we don't meet, I'll say that it was really nice of Ezzie to call, good that he managed to catch me, and here's hoping that this TO-RON-O Pearl one day meets up with this fine young blogger!

****

Okay, well, Ezzie and I did get to meet briefly after all. I was going to my parents this morning with the kids for a late breakfast, and while there, called the family where he was staying. Yup, he was still there for a short while, so I said I'd be right over to say hi and bring a little something for Elianna. (a kids' book, which my kids also have, and one I love giving as a gift -- it's called BABY LOVES)
Max the dog and the three kids chose to join me, and we headed over and found Ezzie packing up the car.
I can say: he does look like his photos, and he's pretty tall at 6 ft, so I had to look up at him when we talked. We just shmoozed briefly about the wedding he'd attended and some of his friends.
I hoped he wasn't embarrassed by the fact that I'm a married woman who's twice his age and I came around for a brief chat. Blogging isn't so familiar to everyone and certainly meeting other bloggers/strangers isn't either!
But now I can say I spoke to Ezzie and I met Ezzie; and he can add me to his list of bloggers whom he's met and tell people that even though I'm Canadian I sound American...as he also pointed out.