“When you’re alone most of your life, you wonder if you’re capable of such loves that sound like they are made of silliness and magic. But our lifelong friendship is always pulling me back. And my slow journey back to him is what defines this kind of quiet love that shapes, for me, the very best friendships.

The true loves in my life have always been hard to describe, and so very often, I don’t say much out loud. A squeeze of a hand or a wink from me feels like I’m climbing a mountain. But the things that are left unsaid are the things that have mattered most. The dear friends of mine know how much I love them and, stretches of seas apart, I feel it too.”

(“A Dear Friend”, by Crissy Van Meter)