Looking for a lazy afternoon and a hug

to help me deal with the "ever-changing climate" of my heart (and the North)

"I bare my windowed self untamed and untrained
Dreams that hardly touch our complexions truest faults
If room enough for both my drowsy spirit shall fall
Bold waves tumble to the season of my heart
You have offended my faith and my trust
Until all is lost into the beauty of the day" (thank you JM for feeding my sentimentality)

Beautiful yellow, orange-hued afternoons, purple-pink sunsets that fill my soul with contentment and contemplation have all but ceased to offer themselves for my enjoyment since I arrived in New York. I yearn for simple things: true friends, a lazy afternoon, late night conversations over tea, a warm shawl to share and the understanding of meditational silence between two people who love unconditionally and profoundly. Relatively, of course, I am lucky. Most of the people I love are a few hours bus ride away, within the same country or always available telephonically. But my effusive, affectionate heart wants a sister, friend, family to embrace right now, both physically and emotionally. I am a fragile being in need of receiving and bestowing the multitudes of love and affection that I feel.

More-than-a-snapshot memory: Cindy, Alia and I once drove to Lake Murray at 3 AM. We lay next to each other on top of Cindy’s car listening to everything and nothing, relishing our nostalgia and ignoring the commencement of journeys that would take each of us in very different directions. Inside the car the radio was softly playing. Lyrics of songs drifted to our ears and mingled with the sound of crickets, lapping water, the rustling of trees and distant conversations. “It’s not always rainbows and butterflies, it’s compromise that moves us along. My heart is full and my door’s always open, you can come anytime you want.” Everything in that moment thankfully suited the mood of our still, but magical starry night. With a few hours left to go before my departure from South Carolina and another long journey back to Virginia, we found an exquisitely beautiful reminder - lakeside and in harmony with the beauties of nature - of our friendship’s core. And for me, preserved in that memory is the reminder of what true friendship is and how the world lends itself to cultivating such moments when you really need it. Thank you, God, for every blessing.