Thursday, June 10, 2010

Weekend in Laredo (part 2)

On Saturday, my second day in Laredo last weekend, I finally had the chance to meet Mary Benavides. I'm usually nervous before meeting new people, so much so that I start fabricating conversations in my head--conversations that inevitably become random and strange, not at all realistic--to prepare for the dialogue to come. But this time, I was more excited than nervous. Each time we'd spoken on the phone about our goals and plans for opening bookstores in Laredo, Mary was warm and open, never giving me the chance to feel anxious. The only odd thing about our meeting was that Courtney, who has been filming a documentary about the closing of Laredo's only bookstore and the community's reaction to it, wanted to get it on camera.

We'd originally arranged to meet at a coffeeshop but, at the last minute, discovered it was closed for another hour after our scheduled arrival. So instead we went to Danny's, a local Mexican restaurant and Laredo institution. We were ushered into the empty back room, all windows and pink walls. It was as Courtney started setting up her equipment that I felt the first flickers of nerves. I hadn't prepared anything to say!

"This is like a blind date," Courtney joked.

"Yeah, one of those Match.com commercials," I added. "Where they're even more awkward because they're being filmed."

We laughed.

Then Mary showed up, and for the next two hours we caught each other up on our progress and plans, only breaking to order and devour a plate of panchos. My nerves faded as quickly as they'd come, as she's one of those rare people with the ability to immediately put others at ease. Perhaps even better, she was a veritable fountain of insight about the book industry, which is so clearly her passion, and I realized freshly how much learning I have to do!

It's such an interesting situation: Two people striving to open the same type of business in the same not-huge city would, I think, normally be cautious of each other, well aware that they will soon be "competitors." But this is so different. Call me naive, but I think she and I genuinely support each other and want to see each other's businesses succeed. We're working toward the same goal, after all, and I think this kind of mutual respect and encouragement speaks to the unique type of goal it is: one with a heart.

Yes, yes. Cue the awwwws.

1 comment:

  1. Lovely entry! I have been impressed with how well booksellers in the same city (think NYC stores, or some of the ones in Atlanta) work well together and support each other. Sends such a strong message to the customer and the community (and takes much stress out of the "competition" when you want ALL the stores to succeed).

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