Long time friend.

This wonderful girl dropped into my life for four blissful days last week. I was sicker than I wanted to be, and it didn't seem fair at all, since we don't get to spend time together more than a few times a year. (Which is a lot with best friends, these days, and I don't take it for granted.)

She was excellent medicine. I slowly got better, feeling almost normal on the day before she left. So we packed a tiffin lunch with Som Tam (spicy papaya salad) and sticky rice, and drove to the waterfall. We bought two drinking coconuts and sat near the loud spray, talking over it, talking and talking.

I have been lonely, and listening to lies a bit, and I feel revived by friendship and laughing. By someone who knows me already, who has accepted me. Who sits on my kitchen floor, drinking hot ginger and lemon into the night.

It's what friends do for each other. We tell each other stories of one another and lift each other up.

I saw the way you handled that. You're so graceful in difficulty. Your sense of humor is the best. You're lovely and lovable.

And from the outside, there it is. Another soul who understands, who speaks love and truth and kindness into existence until we can begin again and be our best selves.