By Valarie SchwartzÂ
Although Wednesday had been Halloween, eeriness hung in the air Thursday afternoon as I walked into the Estes Street Post Office to find nobody in line and two clerks waiting to serve me — in a place where there is usually a wait.
With a little time to kill before going to the Women’s Center’s annual Tea with Lee (Smith) event at Foster’s Market, I popped into University Mall where employees outnumbered customers wherever I went. The paintings of Jane Filer hanging in Tyndall Galleries pulled me in — her freedom with shapes in predominating primary colors provide such happy paintings it was comforting to be offered assistance just to be able to share by joy.
En route to Foster’s it seemed that even the streets had been vacated — where was everyone at 4:30 p.m.?
The answer was at Foster’s — which was packed and abuzz.
Like many Women’s Center fundraisers, the room was filled with women (plus four men) and the hum that erupts with their gatherings; happy woman sounds balancing the happy paintings I’d just seen, ingredients for a terrific afternoon.
With finger sandwiches, crumpets, scones and cookies served with a “tea†that was actually wine, the party was on: women greeting friends and acquaintances not recently enjoyed; settling into seating, ready to hush when Ann Gerhardt, executive director of the center, climbed up on a table (one with a microphone and podium standing on it) and brought the gathering to order.
Gerhardt leads the staff of eight (some part-timers) in their challenge to serve the women of the community during the snags that life so unpredictably provides — career changes, divorce, financial hardship, relationships gone sour — so they can continue forward.
“We helped 4,500 people in our programs last year, giving them all the tools they need to be self-sustaining,†Gerhardt happily stated.
The Tea with Lee tradition provides Smith an opportunity to introduce a local woman author to the women who support the center, and this year Smith brought them Haven Kimmel, who charmed her way into their hearts even before reading from her latest book, The Used World.
Smith had already shared the story of her first meeting with Kimmel, who some years back had followed Smith, her future mentor, into the restroom at Barnes & Noble after Smith had arrived to give a reading.
“I thought she was a stalker,†Smith said.
After Kimmel climbed on the table with a witty remark about the last time she’d stood on a table in a public place, she explained that her purpose in following Smith had been to deliver her a message. Before leaving her native Indiana, her mentor there had given her several of Smith’s books and told Kimmel that if she ever met Smith she should let her know how important her books had been to Kimmel’s Hoosier writer friend.
Kimmel already had the hardest thing about meeting an admired person worked out — what to say — providing her the courage to make the approach. She had no way of knowing that Smith would invite her to attend her writer’s workshop.
“I followed her into the bathroom . . . and ended up with a polished book,†Kimmel said of her memoir, A Girl Named Zippy, published in 2002.
There has been no dimming of the luster or courage through publication of her next five books, and her wit and energy won new fans as the women of the Chapel Hill area gathered together, leaving behind checks of gratitude and encouragement for all the Women’s Center does — including bringing them together for the happy times.