A bridge too far……..

I met Lindsey for the first time on August 5th 2013. Marie Wichmann is my friend Paul Wichmann’s younger sister. I have know Marie since she was 15 years old. Marie and Lindsey have known each other for years and are both nurses.

Lindsey had just bought a duplex and moved into the first floor of it that spring and her handyman she felt was not someone she wanted to have continue working on her property any longer as she felt like the charges were not in line with the quality of work she wanted to see.

She was telling Marie she was frustrated with him and wanted to know if Marie knew anyone who could do some repairs and possibly some remodeling for her in the future. Marie referred her to me and told her I was a friend of Paul’s for a long time and that she knew me to be a good guy.

Lindsey texted me a few days later sometime late July and we set up a meeting for August 5th.

I meet lots of interesting people all the time from homeowners to guys that own a lot of old brownstones and multi unit apartment buildings and commercial property. When I met Lindsey I was immediately impressed because she was just so down to earth and so willing to learn more about how houses work and how to do a lot of the smaller repairs herself. I like the fact that her car was super messy and she came prepared with a ladder strapped to the top of her car!

We visited the single family home where she lived for 7 years as she had some issues there that needed attention and then we went over to the duplex she had just bought the spring of 2013.

Once I had finished the work she inquired if she could call me in the future and I of course said yes.

I went home that day and just felt a little better after meeting her. She was I thought a very interesting woman and I enjoyed very much chatting with her and found her to be so mature for her age. I guess I had an initial crush on her so I called Marie a day or so later and asked about her further.

I got an email from Lindsey that night after I had worked on her properties and she told me I had removed a lot of stress from her life and reminded me again of what she told me earlier in the day as she wrote me a check on the spot for the work i did for her. She asked what company she should make the check out to and I said oh just write it out to me personally. She stepped back and said ‘you’re not incorporated?’ ‘We gotta fix that right away’. From the first moment she was showing what I came to see was just her natural way of seeing the world. If she saw something that she knew you needed help with she would offer assistance because she knew how to help people medically and with real estate and more than that she was eager to do it. I was impressed with that kind of motivation.

Marie tells this story too that Lindsey called her after our first meeting and asked what kind of guy I really was because she too had an initial crush.

But we basically both came to the same conclusion that day, the 20 years between us was just a bridge too far.