Tash is a Siberian Husky. She really likes to take walks; of course, 
she prefers to choose the direction we go but that’s an entirely different story.
One Saturday morning we were nearing the end of our walk. I had finally coaxed Tash towards home and we were close. So close. Walking a dog is great, walking someone else’s dog early on a weekend morning is not always great. We’d been out for an hour and (I hate to admit this) I was hoping to go back to bed.
A tall gentleman walks towards me with a paper in hand. He asks directions. Simple enough, right?
Yeah, with anyone else, I’m sure it would have been. Me? Not so much.
Apparently this tall gentleman was named Osman, from Mali, he is in “import-export,” he has a sister in “Cinceenatty,” and wanted to be my forever friend. Yes, I’m jumping ahead.
Image by John Spooner via Flickr
He asked for directions. I gave directions. He talked to Tash, and Tash talked back. They became friends. So when he asked about Hollywood, yeah I began more than the required polite conversation. Only it quickly moved on, and then I was learning about Mali and the Dogon people. Very interesting actually. The Dogon lived much like some Native Americans, by building villages into the sandstone cliffs of the Bandiagara Escarpment. Cool huh? They have very cool art and still practice their old religion – apparently the landscape played a role in the people’s refusal to convert to Islam a thousand or so years ago. I learned this from Osman, but you can read more on Wikipedia – or whatever trusted source you prefer.
So it was an interesting conversation, until Osman asked for my contact information. He was so nice. So here I am thinking, he’s nice but not my type. What the hell do I do? I start to try to inch away, but Osman knew that trick. After a ten minute conversation, Osman said that he liked everything about me and wanted to be my “forever friend.”
Ladies. There is a nice gentleman from Mali living in Los Angeles. He’s only been married once, because his family arranged it, but they divorced and he continues to look for a nice woman who will be his forever friend. He’s very sweet.
But for me and Tash – well, we went home and had ice cream while watching George Gently on Netflix. Honestly, forever friends, really?