Lorna Green recently quit the League, where we worked together, and faced with some spare time on her hands she flew to Seattle to visit. I was *so glad* to see her. So glad. It had been too long — almost a year, since my whirlwind trip to DC to interview at a terrible job — and the kids fell in love with her. Eleanor wandered around, forlorn, for a few days after she left … “Ms. Lorna?”

When we met, I disliked Lorna — intensely. I thought she thought she knew all the answers (ugh, sound familiar, self?) and was too messy and smug to be successful. The first year we worked together — well, we each spent a lot of time in Andy’s office, complaining about each other. I would bring up how rude she was to me, and Andy would gently point out how she was the most beloved person on staff, revered for advice and kindness.

Lorna and me with the three babies in Seattle, May 2014

I would complain about her messiness, and Andy would remind me that every. single. time. I asked her for anything she would pull it up, almost instantaneously, out of the terrible mess of her desk. He’d remind me that it takes many kinds of people  …

Then, one day, Andy brought us both into his office. I started talking, then Lorna talked, then I finally listened, then she did. And finally she said, “We fight just like sisters. I’m willing to try if you are.” And from that day on, really, from that day, we were, just like sisters. Sure, her messes sometimes annoyed me, and if you listen to her you might think I’m a bit obsessive and pushy. But — through my three pregnancies she supported me, through the League’s ups and downs we supported each other, and through the sale of her childhood home (and purchase of her new home) I listened to her.

I was so glad to see her, and so glad to talk to her and hear about her sons, and their successes, and her hopes for their future.

Like sisters, we fight, we laugh, we love. I’m so glad we gave each other another chance — two smart, strong women are smarter and stronger together. Thanks, Lorna, for taking a chance on me.