Tea With Brini

     Page Thirty-Two.
     Around '90, I received a phone call from a woman named Brini. She'd gotten my name and info through word of mouth and was interested in having me do her hair. She lived sort of far out, in South Russell actually. S.R. is about thirty minutes east of me but a pretty drive and I was taking new clients at that time so I went out and met her. By the time someone greeted me in person for the first time, they already knew the story: I came to them and did their hair in the kitchen, or wherever. Considering the service, I was dirt cheap but I didn't care 'cause I was in college and was just trying to make some money 'till graduation.
     Brini's husband worked with some of my other clients so that was the connection. He was Vice President in charge of public relations and advertising of a large national company. Their home illustrated his worldly success, it was sheer glamor, as was she. She had to have been in her sixties and quite beautiful. In fact, I once told her that she looked a lot like Myna Loy. She took that as a compliment, as it was intended. We took to each other instantly and I would go out and cut her hair every third Friday afternoon for six or seven years.
     My long-lasting memories of her are absolutely dominated by the tea that we would sit and drink prior to cutting. Most visits would see the two of us simply sit together, drink hot tea and chat for up to an hour, before any scissors were picked up. We would talk about anything: my classes, her daughter, her mother, the Shapiro boys, etc. I now know that we talked about what people talk about when they sit and have tea together.
     She was of the generation and station that invited visitors to sit and enjoy a refreshment prior to any business being taken care of. I was on the receiving end of that twentieth century, upper class hospitality for those years. Brini would have had great similarities to Brooke Astor or Jackie Kennedy in that regard.
     It was quite entertaining for me and I think for her too. She got a kick out of me and told me so. During the eighties and nineties I was sort of punky/grungy/tacky/trashy looking; very different than my personality; which was then inconsistent with my living position (male live-in nanny). This disconnect really mystified people and kept many mouths babbling endlessly like beautiful Vermont brooks. Brini told me that she liked talking with me 'cause I wasn't boring, like so many people in her circle.
     So tea with Brini was just one more of those pleasant memories that I look back on and think, "how did I get here? Just luck I guess".
     Eventually Brini got a new colorist who insisted on cutting and styling as a condition to coloring. So we had to part. That was okay. I understood. Some years ago I heard that she had pretty bad dementia. Then a few months ago I saw where her husband died. I wanted to go to the funeral but couldn't make it.
     We meet so many people in our lives. We know some for only five minutes, others we know for decades. We're blessed when people who aren't with us for a very long time have a long-lasting and positive effect.