Friends- a reflection

The kits for the monkey hats arrived. With properly loose tension I began fair isle knitting the adorableness. After 30 rows I noticed the pattern wasn't quite right. Consistently. I am about the farthest (furthest?) thing from a perfectionist that a person can get. If there were such a word I'm sure I'd be called a "that'll do-ist." Except I have a friend, knitnightGina who, though never judging, would never accept that in her own work. She inspires me to be better, to expect more, to allow the time necessary to fix a mistake. Friends like her make me proud of myself when, for at least that one moment, I do better than I think I can.

Then there's firstgradeteacherRobin. I don't get to see her much at school. We both keep busy doing our jobs. But I know how hard her life can be and she knows the ins and outs of mine. We have granted each other permission to text random gifs whenever we feel like it.

When I told her tacos for dinner

 

When she said she preferred burritos

 

We send them along when life is hard and when it's not hard. It's like a little poke asking '"is anybody out there?" And answering, "yea, you're cool." We cheer each other on, always offering to help, knowing that most often the best thing we can do is bear (bare? I'm second guessing myself today) witness to one another's lives.

SecretarySandy and I have gone the entire summer and spoken via text just twice. She's the at school, in the moment, "did I just say that out loud?", "I'll tell you at lunch," we crack each other up friend. A shared sensibility for the absurdity of life gives us everything we need to get through the days.

And then comes the knitnightamandaDrJustine kind of friend. We live in three vastly different worlds. We come together at knit night and share music, books, thoughts from our brains, stuffed knitted toy play dates, and all things whimsically ridiculous. This is where the laughing so hard you can't breathe happens. These meetings are sporadic given the way schedules coincide. But when the planets are aligned, a heavy weight is lifted.

Here at the end of the post is where, if I were a famous blogging philosopher finding meaning in life, I would have a profound, well-articulated observation on friendship.

I'm grateful for my friends.