Sometimes

Sometimes I write about silly fluff. A lot in life is silly fluff.

...and then there are moments that life gets very real. Only a few weeks into a new year, and life has gotten very real. My heart has been broken. Not for myself, but for my friends.

Life feels heavy. There isn't much time that goes by that I don't think about them. That I don't whisper a short prayer for peace.

So sometimes I write about fluff because life is too real.

I am not the victim. By no means should anyone feel even slightly sorry for me. My life is good. I believe I am extremely blessed.

But then there are friends who are being stretched, knocked down, beat up... friends who are suffering, who are grieving.

And it is in this that I am learning love. Never in my life have I told my friends that I love them with such honesty and intimacy.

And it is not a one-way street. Despite the swells that threaten to topple- they have reached out to me and shown me love... and I am amazed.

It has cast an entirely different light on all my relationships. It has made me appreciate people in a way I never have before.

A wise friend of mine has said that a person is truly and richly blessed when they have a small handful of friends/family who really do support them, and that the rest doesn't matter.

Another wise friend says that friends are the family that you choose. Not everyone is blessed with the most stable and supportive biological family, and even if they are, there are friends who come along and become sisters, brothers, fathers and mothers.

If I have written more fluff lately than usual, it is because my words cannot do justice to the reality of life. Sometimes life comes down to that which is unspoken: a ringing phone, hugs, tears, laughter, understanding, silence, love, patience, and just showing up.