Friday - 343rd

Is there a day in the calendar year that celebrates friendship? No? Well that's a shame! Why would you not give an appreciative nod to this most important category of people? Maybe send flowers, maybe write a card, with a caveat -- your friend doesn't have to send a thank you note in return! Just enjoy the message, feel grateful and maybe even happy. Wouldn't that be nice!

I'd like to believe that I do not take my friends for granted. That I honor them, love them, thank them for their sweetness, care, and their singularly unique and interesting approach to each day. We humor ourselves by thinking we're good friends in return. That we make an effort. But is it enough? I'm thinking that in reality, we tend to obsessively fret about getting through each day without breaking bones, or burning the night's meal. We've evolved from being warriors to worriers. We agonize about every detail of our day. And yeah, we probably neglect our friends.

So I'm compensating! I'm setting aside this day for thinking grand thoughts about friends. It's the perfect time for it -- I have two Zoom chats, one with my Polish friend and one with my two southern pals. And in between, I think about how lucky I am to have these people (and others -- friendship is not exclusive!) in my life. Good people, who live elsewhere, but whose minds run along channels not so distant from my own.

But I admit it -- these grand thoughts are saved for moments when I'm not doing the usual: animal care in the morning...

 

Breakfasting with Ed...

and eventually taking a city park walk with him...

 

(the park with the great city view)

With the usual evening set of tasks, none of them unpleasant: cooking dinner, putting away the accumulated bits of another week of farmhouse isolation. But at the end, I come back to friends. What a great institution, don't you think? Thank you for being there, you guys. Really, thank you.

With love.