Meet and Greet

Earlier today I attended my first event since the start of the pandemic. I think the last event I went to was an art opening in early March 2020 so that was about 15 months ago. Today was a meet and greet celebration for my friend Mary Jean who is retiring from the Buffalo & Erie Public Library system where she was the director. We went to library grad school together at UB and she was down at BECPL during the five years I worked there.

I talked with about twenty five people at this event. I was surprised at how many people I knew were there and there were also some people who greeted me and I really didn't know them but they knew who I was. It turns out I have somewhat of a reputation and history in the place as the person who introduced technology to the system including e-mail and the internet. There were also a lot of politicians and various library board members in attendance.

The meet and greet was located up on the second floor in the area that used to be the Business and Science Department which was where I worked during my time there. Now it is a large open area used for events and art shows. 

Nobody was wearing masks in the reception area and vaccinations were supposedly required for entry although nobody asked or said anything. There was some hugging but mostly people kept there distance. I was there a little over an hour and did enjoy myself very much.

It was also strange that after this event I would be heading off to another gathering of people later in the evening. Two events in one day. This was a first in a long time.