quality

A card from college friend--
On the front, a little one plucking shiny hearts from a nebulous flurry amidst a black sky. "She sows seeds of kindness." Inside: "I'm still drinking tea & honey, but I've moved to Mission Bay. Sometimes, I miss the East Coast and the autumn chill and New England foliage. The beaches in Norcal are frigid too! What are you going to be for Halloween this year? I made a costume last year, but didn't have time to wear it. You should come visit me. We can go wine tasting or eat raw oysters. Ah, medical school gets so hectic, but someday we should spend a nice summer in a cottage."

An email exchange with med school friend--
Me: I got another pair of boots.
Him: Might I recommend you make a facebook album profiling all your boots. Can we do a double makeover. I'll do one for you and you do one for me. We can have a set budget.
Me: Sure, but how am I going to make you any better?!
Him: Your flattery doesn't fool me! There are many things that could make me better.
Me: What's the budget... I'm curious as to what you'd make me over as.
Him: A stop light. Budget of $30. On the cheap.

A self-described long and complicated email from high school friend--
Thoughts on seeing self and what's around; this natural openness to seeing being the reason for and result of never settling for the sake of ease. It's a struggle we value, and reminds me to always feel with awareness.

A stamp-sized letter from elementary school friend--
It's a real letter with a tiny envelope and a tiny stamp and a tiny wax seal. So small that it comes with a little magnifying glass to read the letters, though I could do without if I read hard, and this is how it makes me feel it's just for me. "We've been friends for 14 years, can you believe it?"

Someone recently said that I'm too trusting of people, which I think was a slight misreading of openness to how far people go beyond our impressions of them. Openness is for everyone whereas trust is reserved for quality, and it's knowing such quality people over the years that makes openness worth the risk. I'm getting my best friend from high school and my med school wife to meet up in California, which makes me happy like e.e. cummings when he says "we're wonderful one times one."