Counting....

I had not wanted to do this now, only because I don't know that I have the proper amount of time to do justice to what I want to say. But I will do so in abbreviated form, because perhaps, economy of words is better. More power in forthright clarity.

Lest you think my life is all gloom and doom. It isn't. Why? Because I have these absolutely amazing friends (and siblings) who are nothing short of beacons. They are the lighthouses and the buoys that guide me through my tumultous seas. The ride is rough, but the sailor remains living, breathing and sentient.

But there is one particular friend whose frienship is of a value truly immeasurable. How? Because she is honest and good and kind and loving. She is generous with herself and her time, even when the weight of life's other demands life bear down on her. She complains very little (though I wish she would complain more - she helps carry so much of my burden, I would love to be able to help carry hers) and she listens an awful lot. She remembers. She inquires. She cares. She opens her life in a way that few people are capable of. She shines. She is light to every room she enters. She is comfort to every person she converses with. She makes the world a better place just by virtue of being in it. A true beauty - striking features outdone and outshone only by the power and beauty of a boundless soul. All of these glittering generalities of mine truly do not do her justice. It says a lot when a person finds the right soulmate in life, and the first time around as well, as my friend has done. In her husband, she found her ideal, she found her happiness. It is what she deserves and more. My words often fail me in truly important topics of conversation, as they most clearly are doing here. But how to describe the indescribable, the formerly unrecognizable? And this brings me to my point, my paean for my friend, is brought on, not by Valentine's day (yes, singletons celebrate Valentine's Day too, we just celebrate friends and family rather than the BF/fiancee/husband type folk) but by her uncanny timing, her commitment to our friendship even when I am plumbing the darkest depths of my inner sorrow, and a comment I heard someone make the other day. As I wept in my office today (a christening of sorts, this is the first time my job has made me cry in my new office) and I thought I was lost beyond the depths of rock bottom, a bouquet arrived "bringing Spring to me, if I could not come to Spring." A perfect reminder. A flash of reality. True friendship is a gift I can list among my assets. I am beyond fortunate, and it is something to be happy about. I smiled, the bitter tears of a moment earlier still running down my face, marveling at how friendship can re-contextualize any of life's moments. Anyway, it brought to mind this observations someone made to me a few days ago: They noted that, surrounded as we are by all sorts of people that we interact with in all sorts of ways, it is incredibly rare to find someone, anyone, in life who "gets you." Simple statement. But true. And encapsulating of a lot of intangibles (see, less words are more). So this afternoon it got me to thinking: My friend is wonderful in so many ways, and, what is so amazing is that she is this incredible, inspiring person and she "gets me." She "gets me" in a way that I don't "get me." But in her, I can see the hope of what is possible. That weird, complex, unpredictable, mind boggling and flat out infuriating as I am, that it is possible for others, others who I love and respect, to "get me." That someday, strolling along I may bump into that guy, and he will be the one because he "gets me." And I will know it because I won't be acting in his presence. Ever. But till then, I am okay. I am not alone. I am luckier than most people will ever be, because I do have someone who "gets me."