ANGEL ON EARTH

in my other life i owned a casting agency that found real people for t.v. commercials and i interviewed those people.

in hindsight it was wonderful. i met some wonderful people. i worked on a free lance basis. i was like a hooker. i'd go from job to job.. i'd go to an ad agency.. do my work and then hopefully would be hired again for their next real people project. it wasn't the kind of work that allowed one to bond with anyone.

there's always exceptions to every rule and the exception came one day when i was hired to cast a commercial for wells, rich, green advertising agency. the product was alka seltzer plus cold medicine and the commerical was shot as i recall in chappaqua new york.

i got to the location and saw this beautiful creature who was my client. i sat next to her while we filmed and we began talking.. she was not only beautiful but smart and funny. a rare combination for certain. we laughed together with a certain familiarity that one only gets when they know someone a long time. she was truly a shiksa goddess.

i recall people fawning over her ,which although lovely, didn't seem the norm for someone who was an account executive at an ad agency. but i really didn't give it much thought.

as it turned out, her mother in law owned the advertising agency and was a very famous, accomplished woman in that industry.. she had homes in nyc, france and the island of mustique. her husband had owned an airline as i recall and i suspect it was the first time in my life i'd been exposed to that kind of wealth. everyone was up pamelas ass because of her mother in law.

none of this mattered to me cause i was just crazy about her. she was to become a huge player in my life and a dear, kind friend.

we kept in touch after the job was completed. we met for lunch on occasion and talked often on the phone. i was there for the birth of her son. went to her apt in nyc often and eventually when she moved to westchester went to her home.

i, at that time, was broke. i was just out of a horrific marriage . life was very difficult but the worse was yet to come.

sept 4, 1990 my son was killed in a car crash. i don't remember much of the days that followed but i do remember pamela being there. i recall thinking to myself, she sticks out like a sore thumb amongst all these jews.

after i sat shiva, i went home and went thru my bills. there was no way i could pay my bills. i got an amex charge of $1,500.00 which at that time seemed like $15,000,000.00. as i was going through my bills, my phone rang and it was pamela.. i began crying, maybe sobbing. i told her about my financial woes and that i also couldn't remember how to write a check.. after you've suffered such a shock like your child dying.... everything is confusing.

pamela asked if she could pay my amex bill.. i fought her about that but she did it anyway. i recall saying to her, i can't pay you back now.. she said, you're never to pay me back but one day when you're on your feet again and someone needs money, you'll help. it was paying it forward before anyone used that expression.

three months after my son died, pamela called me and said jim, her then husband, who also worked at the advertising agency, had a job for me. i said, pamela, i can't do it. i felt incapable of working. she said, you're doing the job, call jim.. i called him as instructed, since i was a robot then anyway. jim told me what the job entailed and that he needed a budget from me.. i called pamela crying and said, i can't do the job, i can't do a budget, i don't want to do it, i can't. she said, heres the budget.. just write it down.. get a group together to help you do the job and just do it !

i did the job and really don't recall much of it but it was my re-entry into the real world.

i remained close to pamela but life changed for me and changed for her. i moved to tucson.. she got a divorce and its all a blur to me now. we lost contact with one another but she was never far from my thoughts.

about three months ago, i thought about her and tried to find her to no avail.. yesterday i went on the computer and in seconds, found her and her phone number. i immediately called and left a message.

last night at 10:30 my phone rang.. i never answer the phone at that hour unless its my daughter.. but i saw caller id and it was pamela.. i grabbed that phone faster than i've ever done anything...

we stayed on the phone for quite a while trying to catch up. that will take much more time.. so much has happened in the years we haven't spoken to one another.

she was an angel in my life and didn't know it.. she just did what she did and gave it no thought.

when i go to new york, you better believe i'm going to see her. she's always been in my heart and she helped bring me back to life.

P.s. years after pamela gave me $1,500 and i was financially solvent, i got a phone call from someone i hadn't heard from in years. she asked if i had money to lend her or else she was going to lose her home.. i figured if shes calling me, she must have called 10 people at least who turned her down. i asked how much she needed, she said $1,500.00!

i paid it foward .

be back soon