# data[].attributes.headline
Long ago and far away   I hate the pandemic  And: you know how to use the post office, thank you <3 

# data[].attributes.subject
Long ago and far away   I hate the pandemic  And: you know how to use the post office, thank you <3 

# data[].attributes.headline
Friendships  They wax and wane and wither/ Altogether. But without them,I/    Would shrivel and die.          

# data[].attributes.subject
Friendships  They wax and wane and wither/ Altogether. But without them,I/    Would shrivel and die.          

# data[].attributes.body
dm

# data[].attributes.body
I’d rather write pretty words about painful times

Than attempt to swim the length of my gratitude for imparting your grace and generosity and joy

I don’t have time to get lost at sea

# data[].attributes.body
Three of us-every three weeks for twenty-five years

Sharing tough decisions, moments of loss and joy

Work, family, marriage, divorce, adoption, death – 25 and counting

# data[].attributes.body
Friendship

Is perilous

Succor

# data[].attributes.body
Not entirely by choice
My friendships are now sustained
Entirely by the sounds of voices

# data[].attributes.body
Community’s built
Link by link and yard by yard
One friend at a time.

# data[].attributes.body
Stretched thin, pulled taut,
we fear what is lost
as we twist and turn.
Contorted we remain
connected.
At what cost?

-SJM

# data[].attributes.body
With arms upon legs and a heart as big as the moon, Charlotte sat in her center talking to her pig.

And we drag each other back when the waters get too deep and we flow towards the other when shallow breaths threaten to drown us.

We gather us in a web of tangled arms and hold on tight.

# data[].attributes.body
when i met you i didn't know
you would introduce me to
myself

# data[].attributes.body
My virtual friends, everyone these days,
are a surprisingly vibrant sunset
Humbling, filling me with gratitude, joy
Did you see that orange? The pink? That kindness? The compassion?
Amazing!
and then.....they vanish.

# data[].attributes.body
With your arm in mine I can relax- you all teach me so much

We've been conveying jokes through bright screens but- one day

There will be a time where I can hold you, when I laugh on a drab train, the wheels pulling us closer together to mutual joy

# data[].attributes.body
Drift
Drift along
Gently
Know you're there
Know you care
Drift
Deeply
Lovingly

# data[].attributes.body
Not always easy, or something I want
Because you see me, meet me, and invite me
To see with more beautiful eyes.

# data[].attributes.body
Dorothy and Rose

Perpetua and Felicity

Stevie and David

Ruth and Naomi

You and me

# data[].attributes.body
I do not trust easily
And so friendships become
Like water flowing past me
Here and then gone

Left standing on the bank
Instead of entering
That soothing stream

# data[].attributes.body
To hear about friendship years ago I asked, "Tell me about the last person you ate ice cream with."

In a precious moment  last summer the voice of someone I almost knew invited me to sit together at Dairy Queen.

# data[].attributes.body
It took years before
I answered the door.
In the end, what a friend.

# data[].attributes.body
Love is friendship caught
On fire by kindled caring
And shared compassion

WDRplus

# data[].attributes.body
'Peace be with you, my friend' she says;
with a smile in her eyes;
I have been seen, and my heart sings.
HilaryC

# data[].attributes.body
You text me 20 year old in-jokes at 5am.
I make us both tea, barefoot in your kitchen.
Love goes without saying.

# data[].attributes.body
So very needed-
The very heart of knowing
Yourself

# data[].attributes.body
mirror me, reveal me
hold me, strengthen me
hide me, see me whole

# data[].attributes.body
you told me we were too different
as if love were manicured topiary
and not scattered wild wood

# data[].attributes.body
I'm trying to befriend myself
While resisting doing so at the same time
Disconnection is the familiar way
Friendship feels strange and vulnerable

# data[].attributes.body
The path we take
The friends we make
Flowing in and out of our pace

# data[].attributes.body
I vow
to never take for granted
the depth of these roots.

# data[].attributes.body
I liked having friends who I “was better than”. until ashamed I saw it. Now my friends are better than me. One has unimaginable loyalty; I try to imitate. One has heart-warming compassion and forgiveness, unable to imitate I cherish it. One is wise, and a warrior in her soul, I learn from her. One downloads wisdom and I sit at her knee. All are normal, unremarkable beloved, beautiful as am I. DAR

# data[].attributes.body
Is there a more precious gift?
Freely choosing and being chosen.
Not for any reason, but delight.

# data[].attributes.body
Like a flower it will grow
In the oddest of conditions
In places unexpected, friendship

# data[].attributes.body
I delight in your
emails, and can't wait until
we are together.

# data[].attributes.body
I don’t need many.

But I do seek after high quality!

Thanks be to God for my dear, dear friends.

# data[].attributes.body
Simply companions on the journey
listening, seeing, offering truth companionship and love
a circle of trust, wisdom

# data[].attributes.headline
I needed a friend You were there it wwas enough to get me through

# data[].attributes.subject
I needed a friend You were there it wwas enough to get me through

# data[].attributes.body
Soulfriend,
walks alongside
caring. compassionate
without judgment

# data[].attributes.body
radio waves deliver your weeping to my ear, and my prayers back to yours/
months later, celebration--an embryo has sprouted in your belly/
lives ending and beginning without a touch, an embrace

# data[].attributes.body
On a ship called Friend
It is important to know
Am I a good mate