Reed meets Reid



So yesterday I stopped by to see Anthony at his corner of 19th and M. There was something different about him this time though. He was wearing a sharp looking black three-quarter length wool coat. “A friend was nice enough to buy this for me,” he told me. Handing me the receipt that was still in the pocket he looked me in the eye. “You’re not going to believe how much they paid for it…I’d be happy with something from the thrift shop.” I explained to Anthony that giving is often times just as much about the giver as it is the recipient. He nodded and said how thankful he was for the generous gift.

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Anthony introduced me to the “other Reid” – I don’t meet a lot of people with my name, not even spelled differently. Leave it to Anthony to scout out another Reed!

While we were talking, Anthony said he wanted to introduce me to somebody. You got to understand that talking with Anthony at his corner is not usually a simple bi-directional conversation – nope, not with Anthony. You see that’s because he knows almost everyone that walks by and always has a cheerful word or two to say to them.

“Reed, I want you to meet Reid,” he told me. I shook hands with my “tocayo” – that’s a Spanish word for someone with your same name. I don’t think we have this word in English, namesake isn’t exactly right. I know they also have a word for this in Russian, Norwegian, Portuguese and several other languages…but I don’t think we have one. Anyway, I couldn’t resist snapping a photo as I don’t often meet other Reeds (or even Reids). It’s actually our middle name – another oddity, right? And he’s friends with Anthony!

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If you can’t be inspired to write surrounded by a million books and coffee…then you are probably screwed.

After ribbing Anthony a little for not mentioning he had another friend named Reid – I headed up to do some writing at Books A Million. The idea of being surrounded by millions of books was so seductively inspiring that I couldn’t pass it up! Great place to get some writing done – except for the slight distraction of the woman who got 50 Shades Darker from the bookshelf (without paying for it) and sat in the coffee shop lounge chair – shifting her body back and forth inhaling loudly while murmuring softly to herself. She was getting so worked up that I moved to the other side of coffee shop when she went outside to smoke a cigarette.

And on that note…check in next week for some updates on my writing, Anthony’s search for housing, etc. I have a little surprise for him too. I am going to see if he would like to go to a job fair that is coming to DC! Let’s see what he thinks about that.

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