Bonds

Herself has something to say today:

Yesterday evening, my Beloved and I took our dogs for a walk.  As we chatted about this and that, I told him about what was going on in my friends' lives.  When he and I returned home, I spent some time thinking about my friends, and about how very grateful I am to know them and to have them in my life.

My Beloved and I have mutual obligations - we are bound together not only by the vows we exchanged nearly 20 years ago, but also by the common life that we have built together and the children whom we have brought into this world.  I expect certain things from him:  if I am lonely, sorrowful or hurt, I expect him to try to console me.  If I have difficulty, I expect him to listen to my words and to try to help if I ask him to do so.  If I have happiness,  I expect to be able to share it with him and that he will be happy in turn.  And I, in turn do the same for him.  I expect him to come to me with his needs and his joys, so that I may help him or rejoice with him.  For richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish.  So it is.

My friends have no such obligations to me - not by any vow, by any duty, by any promise.  And yet, they are here for me.  They are happy when I am happy.  They console me; they listen to me; they help if I ask.  They keep the spectre of loneliness away from my doorstep, even when my Beloved works long hours and is not here.  They tell me of their happinesses and their successes, and I am ever so pleased for them.  Even more:  they turn to me in their own times of need. They let me feed them and look after them.  If they need a hug or a word of cheer, they provide me the opportunity for helping them.  They care about me, and I care about them. So it is.

It is marvelous indeed, that a bond of friendship alone has given rise to these relationships that bring me so much joy.  It is my honor and my privilege to be here for my friends as they are for me.  I am enormously grateful, every day, for them.

Thank you, my friends.