Behind closed doors

Today was somewhat of a non-event really. I woke up and suddenly it was 3 o'clock. I'm sure there is supposed to be 8 hours between 7am and 3 pm but there wasn't today. Nor was this an isolated event, on the contrary, it has become a disturbingly regular occurrence for me of late.

In a desperate bid to redeem my day I searched my small world for one significant thing that I could do before giving up on today altogether and waiting for tomorrow.

I visited a friend.

People are never a waste of time.

This friend and I, well, we've known each other for two years now and been good friends for half of that. We are nothing alike but I love her - our differences compliment each other I think.

Anyway I popped in and after knocking on the door for the 3rd time, was just turning on my heel to leave, when the door was opened to me and I inadvertently stepped into the middle of domestic mayhem. The particulars I wont discuss but the language was flying, the doors where flying, opinions where flying and there was a least 6 people trying to make themselves understood at once. It was fantastic!

I hate conflict. I am a peace lover. If I had lived in the 60s I would have made a great hippie. I would much rather site on the sidelines, (particularly if its under a palm tree), than be involved in anything that even has the possibility of leading to conflict, so to feel this way about such a blantant confrontation was completely new for me. I took myself by surprise. But to see people I love so unguarded was brilliant. So passionate, so involved. I admire that in them.

And there was something bigger happening. For the first time in this relationship I was there behind the closed doors - not just afterwards ... to talk about it. There was no masks, no pretense just people dealing with life the best way they could, out loud. I loved it. I loved being there and being able to be a part of that. That people can know me so well that they trust me to see them when their guard is down. Its a new level of friendship - its very real and its a priviledge.

J