When I first went away to college I fell head over heels in love with Jessie.
We met in building construction school, which is an incredibly rigorous and work-intensive program. We were together for over a year, and then she got a new interest in life. She didn’t want to be an architect or a contractor any more, she was lured by the call of the arts to become a sculptor. She dropped out of school to chase her passions, and we didn’t see each other for several years after that. I was very surprised to hear from her last week, when Jessie called my business to see if I could help her acquire a load of rebar rods and wire ties. She wanted the best on the marker, which meant the American made stainless steel double loop wire ties that only building contractors could buy in bulk. There are a lot of things you simply cannot get at Home Depot, including industrial grade rebar rods, forming wire, and ironworker wire. Jessie knew exactly what she needed but without her contracting license she had few options for acquiring a sufficient amount of rebar rods and wire ties. Acquiring the necessary forming wire, tie wire, and rods for her would be easy enough, but I wasn’t sure how much I should charge her. If this was leading up to us reconnecting, then I could sell her the rebar at cost, but if it was strictly business then I should try to turn a profit, right? I will just have to take a risk!