"Jana likes to live on the edge"

Well that was interesting. I had a meeting at the alma mater yesterday - and might I say I'm even filled with more pride than before - so I decided to check out a few places nearby. I walked into the bookstore and the local Greek spirit shop. The bookstore was just that, generic and mass-produced. But the Greek shop was the same as ever. So cute and fun that I wanted to find something to buy. I wanted to feel included. But I noticed it was entirely Greek and what was University was the generic and the same as ever.

I've felt bad about opening the shop and stepping on the toes of my former boss. I worked at the Greek spirit shop for 6 years in college and after. She was a mother to me when my own had issues accepting who I am. But my fears are apparently hers as well.

I walked in and began to relax, realizing how different we still are. There isn't one person that would shop at one over the other, but rather probably shop in both to find exactly what they're looking for. And after a year of being open and a handful of visits, I finally ran into her again ... and it was interesting.

She threw me under the bus for opening in the first place, making sure I knew I could have found something cute at her store. Then questioned why I wasn't working and was out walking around in the first place. THEN asks me if I ever got married. I tell her no, conversation is awkward for a bit, and I say something about dating Scott and she says, "Oh - you're dating too? I thought it was just business. Well, Jana never did make the wisest decisions. She likes to live on the edge." She left me fake smiling with my mouth a-gape as she returned to her throngs of customers buying for Bid Day.

Seriously? I've been terrified of running into her for fear she would misread my store as stepping on her toes; HOWEVER, in reality, it's nothing like her store whatsoever. There isn't one style, product or inch of atmosphere that overlaps. But she apparently only did enough research to feel the need to parent me into my place.

I pictured that encounter totally different.