reach out

this weekend, i had the unsurpassed pleasure of a visit by two of my oldest and dearest friends. my oldest and dearest met my newest and dearest. i witnessed as my worlds mixed and merged. i don't have the words to express the joy that i felt in those couple of days.


i have known these two women for something like 40 years. we have drifted in and out of daily interaction, inevitably reconnecting. i have no idea how long it's been since the three of us were together, all at once. i know that it had been too long.

we are all women accustomed to asking, and answering, the really tough questions. there are no off-limits areas. there is nothing that can't be asked. we speak our minds forthrightly. we have worked and played together, debated, laughed and cried hysterically, danced, sung, created, howled at the moon, made and demolished mountains of good food, critiqued our significant others (often in their presence). we don't hold back.
they have now gone back to their homes, spouses, projects, lives, apart from me, and yet still a part of me. i am bereft and connected, a very odd combination.

these are the people to whom i reach out when all hell breaks loose, as has been known to happen in our lives. these are the people who remind me to be the best of myself, even when i don't want to. they remind me of the possibility that we contain, in every waking moment.

so, maryellen and lee-ann, this is for you.