What do you do when you are forced to spend time with someone annoying?

Do you write them off or just mark time until you can get rid of them?

Or, do you take a totally different approach.

Do you tell yourself you can learn something from them?

I have longed believed I can learn something from just about everyone who crosses my path. And, yes, I did learn a few things from the annoying woman who never stopped talking about senseless dribble.

I was especially annoyed with her unstoppable chatter because we were with my favorite couple. John and Linda are always so interesting and I look forward to the few times we can get together. But, unfortunately, I never got to enjoy them because the woman I’ll call Chatty Cathy commanded the floor. All the time.

When there are five people out to lunch, I can’t understand why Chatty Cathy didn’t come up for air to let someone else talk.

But make no mistake about it. I know there is much I have to learn in that encounter.

Patience and giving someone new a chance, regardless of first impressions, are definitely what I tried to do.

Strangely, my friend Linda is the most amazing woman I know. She is special for so many reasons.

One of the unique things about her is how she gathers people to her, inviting others to join her.

A while ago I was meeting Linda and John for a church dinner. There were four of us for our table, but by the time we crossed the hall to our seats Linda had gathered a table full of people.

She has this friendly way of saying, “Come join us.” No wonder everyone loves her.

That’s how Chatty Cathy got to be with us for our Sunday lunch. Linda invited her to join us every week for our Sunday lunch.

It’s going to be interesting to see what else I can learn from all this.

One of the things I like about Linda is that she doesn’t judge people. She offers the gift of friendship without reservation.

If Chatty Cathy joins our Sunday lunch group I am sure it will all work out.

I’m searching my brain for any occasion when someone I initially found annoying turned into a good friend.

I’ve yet to think of any time when that happened.

I am truly someone who loves others, even at first encounters. And it’s always been a positive thing in my life.

I remember talking to my editor wondering why a certain powerful attorney only wanted to work with me.

My editor responded by asking what I thought about the attorney. “I admire him,” I said. “He is so smart and treats people well.”

“There’s your answers about why the attorney wants to deals with you” my editor said. “We all prefer to deal with those who have positive feelings about us.”

Come to think of it, I can’t think of one occasion in my life when someone I liked didn’t share good feelings about our encounters.

Sometimes it all about giving someone a chance. When you do, nice things happen.

Normally I am fast to appreciate meeting someone new.

When my husband and I went to a birthday party all the seats with our friends were filled. No problem, I said, I love meeting new people.

Sure enough, the couple we sat with were delightful. We had so much in common and we chatted away like old fiends.

We enjoyed each other so much that when the party was over we made plans to meet for a kayaking trip. That was even more fun.

It’s rare that we find another couple so compatible with our interests.

When they invited us to join them for dinner at their favorite restaurant we got out our schedules to find a good time for all of us. I wrote down the date and we made plans to meet inside the restaurant where it would be cooler.

We never did connect at that restaurant. They went the following night, but that wasn’t the date we wrote in our date book.

This wonderful couple that we liked so much was furious that we had the wrong date. They ended our friendship just like that.

Not every friendship is as perfect as it first appears to be.

So, the corollary must also be true. Sometimes we become friends with people we didn’t initially enjoy. Perhaps the woman who annoyed us will turn into an interesting friend.

I like the little motto that says some people come into our life for a moment, some come for a long friendship, and some come forever.

A better way of saying it is the well-known expression: People come into your life for a reason, for a season or forever.

It’s not important to figure out why they came. It’s just important to be open, to enjoy a new friendship and see where it takes you.

Email Pattie Mihalik at newsgirl@comcast.net