Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold. – Girl Scout song (and also a poem from Joseph Parry) Sometimes whole weeks zip by fully in the present, a blur of our current places and people. Then once in a while there is a blissful time […]
Early in my career, I was on a downward escalator in a faraway airport, grumpy from a missed flight, when I heard a familiar voice calling my name. A friend from high school had spotted me going the opposite direction, across the miles and across the years. After an awkward scramble we met up for […]
Friendship is a sheltering tree. – Samuel Taylor Coleridge Yesterday a dear friend dropped by unexpectedly, something that used to happen all the time. Though we hadn’t seen one another in months, within a single minute we were talking about Big Things, and small things too. Whether Coleridge or Madea, many […]
ALMOST EVERYTHING WILL WORK AGAINIF YOU UNPLUG IT FOR A FEW MINUTES —INCLUDING YOU. – ANNE LAMOTT Dear friends, this weekend I am unplugged for the first time in a very long while, and have just awoken to the sound of friends laughing together, surely the best alarm […]
This week I gathered with some dear friends for the first time in far too long, in a neighborhood where we all had deep roots. One couple had been married just around the corner, another met in the buildings we could see across the river, and a sister plus another loved one had lived within […]
When I walked the Camino de Santiago, I met some wonderful people, but I also spent quite a few days in silence, speaking only to ask for water, or for a spot in a dormitory. I was walking during the scorching Spanish summer, so I liked to start before dawn, setting off in the blue […]
When a mother redwood tree falls, from her roots a ring of saplings springs up, called a fairy ring. And when that ring grows up, it is called a cathedral. I was able to gather with dear family and friends recently, and had a vivid image of our roots, all intertwined, holding each other up. […]
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 […]
I met a new friend this week, and we were trading thoughts on what we’ve learned as we’ve gotten older. She noted, “I no longer endure.” My first thought was, oh dear! Are you tired, or weak, or incapable? My second thought was, ohhhhh, that’s exactly what you mean. We are so trained to think […]
Friendship is a sheltering tree. – Samuel Taylor Coleridge Here’s the wonderful, hopeful, loopy thing about gratitude: once you’ve experienced friendship, you want to be a friend. Once you’ve been cared for, you want to care. Once you’ve been sheltered, you want to shelter. Dear Honeybees, […]