The Blizzard hit us! Right when my best friend from Redondo Beach, CA was visiting-all the airports are closed so it looks like I get to have my friend for another day. It is always so wonderful to spend time with friends that you have known for years. There is a bond and a trust from years of sharing trials and victories that is unmatched. When I went through a time of loss and void in my life she was there holding my hand and taking baby steps with me to get back to a more joyful, rich life. Elisabeth has always been a tower of strength (and I mean always!) but she has dealt with illness the last few years and has had no choice but to slow down to the point of being flat on her back. As she has been feeling more energetic and she feels the fog lifting she has commented on how it has changed her. I can tell-life for her is savored now. She always lived a robust exsistence but now priorities have changed for her, she is a bit more fragile making room to embrace other peoples fraility. It has also slowed her down enough to make room in her life for a rich romance. We never wish for trials, voids, but learning how to survive them and pass through them can bring out parts of your personality and pieces of your heart that were there all them time but that you hadn't really included in your life. When I was going through my divorce and through all the court proceedings around it, I was quite surprised at the women, most older and mothers of my girlfriends who reached out to me with a knowing look in their eye. Some shared intimate stories with me of there own trials assuring me that I would reach a better place at some point. I have reached a better place ( more quickly than I thought at the time) and now I can only hope that I can touch someone with that knowing look on my face, tell a story, squeeze them extra tight when I hug them and make them laugh at themselves every now and then. Every day I understand more that life is a journey and all the bells and whistles that we THINK we are supposed to take away from it, great careers, terrific families, beautiful homes are really by products of all the giving, stretching and sharing that you are really supposed to be doing.