So nice.

To have a friend like you.
To weave with through the crowds,
and watch the seals chase schools
of mackerel at the end of the pier,
and bike around in the silence
and the downtown chaos
with all the crazy people
and the confetti from fiesta
...and all the people
...so many people

so many faces,
but they all seemed so alone,
in that train of bodies...
but we weren't.

So, thanks for being my friend.
and for giving me that most precious gift
...of your time.

Ode to Friendship, pt Vlll: Misty Renia Schmidt

Misty, today, 21 years ago, smack-dab in the middle of the middle of the mid-west, you were born unto us.  It took you 19 years to make it across the states, to be a part of the west, part of our family, part of my life.  You've taught me so much.  About love, and generosity and drive and fervor for life!  Every minute spent with you, left me with a smile upon my face, and a new excitement for what was ahead.  You became like a sister to me - like the one I'd never had.  You brought joy to our home and to my heart.  I'll be honored and jazzed to romp with you again anyday... 

....and everyday... I will treasure the memories we've shared, but mostly the way you changed my life and taught me a new way to live.  

---Being an adult.  Yet having a child's heart---

May you stay forever young as the graceful and beautiful daughter of our most Holy and Righteous King.

Happy Birthday, love.

Ode to Friendship, Pt. VII: Laura Michelle Goto

After 5 years, almost everything in our lives have changed, except for our sweet amity. :-) I'm so glad.  Yesterday, I wasn't sure how things were going to go...  but praise be (!) We're still the same ole goofy friends!  It was like being transported into a slice of our childhood.  I remember one day after an afternoon "playdate" at your house consisting of building mud pies and climbing trees, my mom picked me up and on our drive home asked me how my day went.  I remember sighing and telling her "I just really, really like Laura... She's a really fun friend."  I had that same exact feeling as we were driving home after meeting her half way in Cambria yesterday...  Man.  Something special about that one.  I shall never fear again about loosing touch.  Even if one of us falls off the earth for 29 years...  If we ever chance to find each other again after that...  We'll be able to find our friendship nitch - I'm sure of it.

"The bird a nest,
the spider a web,
man, friendship."
- William Blake -

Ode to Friendship, Pt. VI: Katrin Cunningham

Here is a quote from Kahlil Gibran, I tribute to Kat. Thankyou for spending the day with me yesterday, doing nothing... and everything at the same time.

"[Your friend is] your field which you sow with love and reap with thanksgiving. And he is your board and your fireside. For you come to him with your hunger, and you seek him for peace. When your friend speaks his mind you fear not the "nay" in your own mind, nor do you withhold the "ay." And when he is silent your heart ceases not to listen to his heart; For without words, in friendship, all thoughts, all desires, all expectations are born and shared, with joy that is unacclaimed. When you part from your friend, you grieve not; For that which you love most in him may be clearer in his absence, as the mountain to the climber is clearer from the plain. And let there be no purpose in friendship save the deepening of the spirit. For love that seeks aught but the disclosure of its own mystery is not love but a net cast forth: and only the unprofitable is caught. And let your best be for your friend. If he must know the ebb of your tide, let him know its flood also. For what is your friend that you should seek him with hours to kill? Seek him always with hours to live. For it is his to fill your need, but not your emptiness. And in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed."

Ode to Friendship, Pt. V: Victoria Katherine Tennant

Dear Victoria,
"If all my friends were flowers, I would look around and pick you."  
I wish there was some way to take this happy, giggly love inside my heart for you and use it to blow up the biggest balloon, that was teal and said in big white letters "I LOVE YOU VICTORIA", and send it up into the sky and have it float above the earth so that all the inhabitants and peoples of this planet would see it and know how great my love is for you.

But, apparently "love" doesn't blow up balloons, so I will just have to try to express my sentiments with words.

We've gone through so many seasons as friends. There was the "You are a toddler and we can't really do much other than have me drag you around" phase. Then there was they "Lets play with guinea pigs on your bed till they poop on us" phase (that one was fun). After that, came the "Let's play the we are Settlers in the 1800s game in my freezing cold garage for hours and days on end" phase. And of course, we cannot forget the "We are famous gymnasts and we will practice our dance routines on my trampoline" phase. We had the "bake-sale" phase. And the "rollar-blading" phase, the "Let's try to evade our brothers" phase (well, perhaps that one still continues...). We had the "Frisbee" phase and the "Music Video Making" phase... The "Floating around in rafts on lakes" phase and... one of my personal favorites: "The let's pretend we are cool surfers and go out and ride some gnar waves" phase.

Through these all, you have been a faithful ally and partner... "Laugh-a-minute Tennant" has never failed me.

It is so entirely awesome to be your friend now, as a "grownup" - because we both know who we were as kids... and that for the most part... we still are deep down. The world changes around us, but our friendship doesn't. And that... is a pretty darn great thing.

I'm grateful.
Tons.
For you.
Love, sincerely and forever,
Maddy (aka Virginia West)

Ode To Friendship, Part. IV: Gracianna Christina Lemos

Gracie.

It's a good thing we chanced to meet that day on the stairs. Today you are one of my closest friends. I like that you get me. And you get me in most all ways, too. I love that we can spend an entire night flowing in and out of dorkiness and seriousness, and it's perfectly normal and ok and just right. I like that the two worlds or humor and somberness (sobraros), are quite parallel in your Universe. You can make a deep thing seem not so dark, and likewise, shed a thoughtful perspective on something that would at first seem light or casual.

You are one of the funniest peeps I know. Sometimes my face get's sore from smiling when you're around. Thanks for talking to me... about everything. Thanks for accepting me for who I am. Thanks for buying me a Ramen Bowl.

Gracie, Gracie. Gracie. Princess of the Nile. I bow down to you in reverence, respect and homage. You are welcome in my home and to my refrigerator at all times. And to you, my heart holds an open door.

You treat me well.
Ta-ta.

Ode to Friendship, Pt. III: Rebecca

A little girl bumbled her way onto the stage...  She danced and jumped up and down, and waved to the audience.  People smiled and chuckled when the adorable little figure bent down and her little headpiece got stuck in her tu-tu..  A few year later, she could be found hunting frogs and salamanders, knee-deep in San Marcos Creek, pigtails flying and goggles atop her head, while riding wild alligators (logs) into the deep parts.

Alot has changed since then, and life has made you grow up.  But you haven't lost that infamous Rebecca-spark.  Spunky tirades, pranks and mischievous grins have all been constants in in your life.

Oh dear friend, please don't change too much.  You are one of a kind.  Don't try to be like anyone else.  People love you because you are absolutely oblivious and adorable and daring and hilarious and fun... and like none other, amazing.  I'm sorry life hasn't let you live your whole life in a creek, or catching butterflies, or making rock-houses, because it should have.  That was the best.  Oh silly, stupid life.

Ode to Friendship, Pt. II: Mikaela Danae Ryan

When I think of you, my memories take me back to a lush green cemetery a few weeks after the fifth of July. There you are, clad in white, a whisp of a girl, dancing her heart out to Jesus, underneath a tall sturdy oak. People gathered around. Eyes wet with the tears of grief and sadness, but sparkling with the hope of that coming day - when we shall again be reunited with our loved ones. That glorious day wherein we shall all be caught up in the sky, whenceforth all tears WILL be wiped away, and burdens lifted. There you were, a testament to all of us, of gentle faith, of abandoned love, of simple and complete trust and of perfect peace. The picture of you dancing at the foot of your baby brother's grave that warm July Saturday (sweet sadness, and courage intermingled), twirling in the sun, held fast by the Son, will be kept in my memory forever.

Dear Mikaela, I have been so blessed by you. You may be years my younger, but in Spirit I see you as as someone I can look up to. Don't loose your sweet innocence, your gentle heart, your delicate reverence. You are a precious gem in the eyes of your Heavenly Father, a gift to the world, and a light to me. I love you.

P.S. We will never be too old to dream up imaginary families and draw our dream houses and write each other funny letters. I promise.

Ode to Friendship, Pt. I: Jordan Diann Schaefer

Oh my dear friend, look at you... look at you! What have I done to deserve such a confidante and faithful amiga as you? There are no words to express my deepest love and gladness in knowing you. Your life and liberty-of-spirit are a testimony to me! You encourage me and you comfort me. I love your zeal, your passion, your energy and your wisdom - your tenderness, your womanhood, your humor and your creativity. I smile as I look back on all that we've shared, and grin when I imagine what the future may hold - more late nights, I hope... More, deep talks, I hope... More silly-shenanigans, I hope... and More Surprises, I do hope, indeed!

You, my little Jordan Diann, ARE a kindred Spirit. I see you as a person I can spend a whole day with, each of us, just sitting, and writing... or thinking our own thoughts, separate, but together. This is a rare and precious bond. Let us not soon forget it, or neglect it...

I love you, My friend... spinning recklessly in the Dramatic Orange set-of-sun!