“Each day holds a surprise. But only if we expect it can we see, hear, or feel it when it comes to us. Let’s not be afraid to receive each day’s surprise, whether it comes to us as sorrow or as joy It will open a new place in our hearts, a place where we can welcome new friends and celebrate more fully our shared humanity.”

~ Henri Nouwen

It’s not something that happens every day, but my heart must have been in the exact places of both mixed sorrow and joy, that the above quote describes when I recently met and got to know a new and special someone over the internet and then later through phone calls. Our spirits just clicked and we bonded immediately.

It was like that rare occasion when wildfires burn hot enough to break open the seeds of certain trees that will crack open and germinate only once the flames grow hot enough. The fire must have been burning in both of our souls that day and we both cracked at the same time and have been growing together in spirit ever since.

We have had eerily similar pasts, grew up in the same time-frame as we are the same age, and even use the same sayings and expressions. Everything about this special person just feels right.

This has only happened to me once before in my life and 12 years later, my good friend Diana and I are closer than ever, in our own unique way. We have traveled to see each other several times, have seen each other through thick and thin and keep in close contact through fairly regular phone calls.

Our love couldn’t be any stronger and she is family now and will forever be.

This new friend, however, is something else. A soul-sister of sorts.

We are so excited when we talk about things that we constantly interrupt each other in our excitement to share the next bit about ourselves to one another.

It makes us laugh, pause, and say, “Okay, your turn.”

I know instinctively that I can trust this person with my heart and soul and I pray (but think I surely know) that she feels the same way. We have both lived out some exceptionally good and bad days and have lots of stories to tell. The thing is that we have lived these days in parallel up until we met, without knowing one another, but it doesn’t feel that way at all.

Instead, it feels like we have always been good friends that have just been out of contact for a while and are just now filling in the blanks of what has happened since we last saw each other. Living wild and free without the time to have made that phone call. We were just waiting for the wildfire that brought us together.

So, this is for you my soul-sister, who lives too far from me physically, but who I securely hold onto, inside of my heart. I love you.

Hurricane Friend

Try affixing the wind to the earth; you will perhaps get a clue
Why I love you dear friend without ever having met you

The very first time we spoke over the phone
I felt our spirits connect; I felt off kilter and thrown

A soul whose mind works and thinks as I do, exists on this planet
Complex and bleeding incalculably red same as me, like pomegranates

Seeing you face to face, is never far from the back of my mind
Zilch written in stone, yet an hourglass’s sand streams, keeping tidal time

Along with infrequent moments too few of hearing your voice
Of which I’d care to hear more of, if given a choice

Knowing mere bits about you, keep me ever intrigued
My mind and heart overwhelmed with questions are feeling fatigued

You’re a hurricane blowing my thoughts through your storm
Impossible to pin down, like shifting wave forms

Too busy to pause for more than a twinkling
I’ve been mesmerized with your mind upon my first inkling

If you only knew yourself better, then you’d understand
How tough it is to secure wind to the land

Making me sail through air, having ne’er seeing one wink
A force of nature disguised as gentle breezes who could transform in a blink

I’ have seriously pondered your riddle for some while
Of where more beauty dwells: In your mind or your smile?

While it’s hard to decide
Although I really have tried

I have chosen your mind at this instant in time
To give you a chance to work on crow-footed lines

You might be too young for these wrinkles just yet
But sure as I am writing this down, I’m placing my bet

That your crow’s feet will win over frown lines by far
One day eyes, framed by smile lines, shall sparkle like stars

Please keep me around long enough to see if suspicions
Of that on which I placed money, will come to fruition

I want to gaze into your eyes until forth dimensions
Blow me off terra firma and explain all of these tensions

Surrounding our friendship in quizzical ways that blow me away
Exercise, eat well, sleep tight and take care until we meet in person one day

Love elephant and want to go steady?

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Editor: Catherine Monkman

Photo: leasqueaky/Flickr