Friendship is a sheltering tree.  

      – Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Sometimes friendship is a welcoming pine amidst a crowded forest, offering a pocket of quiet soft ground beneath.

Sometimes friendship is a giant old oak, gnarled and craggy and missing a branch or two, but still standing strong and holding a place in both time and space.

Sometimes friendship is a clump of palms in an unforgiving desert, a promise that comfort is within reach, even if it is far off on the horizon.

There are so many forms of friendship, so many ways to provide shelter.

Dear friends, let’s take a moment today to appreciate those who have sheltered us.

Let’s stretch our limbs to offer some in return.