Wandering Along the Path: Right Speech

I made a chocolate cream pie for my four year old grandson. He likes crust. He devoured the quiche I dropped by last week. To return the favor my daughter dropped off beef stew today for our dinner. Yummy! When I was married the first time with two toddlers and in graduate school, a neighbor in my same married student housing complex and I made dinner for each other one night a week. We didn't eat together for the exchange, we just gave each other a break from cooking. It was just the biggest treat! She was my best friend in my twenties, and like me, only had one sibling, a brother who was challenging. We were sisters to each other, and promised to take care of each other's kids if something happened. It would have been meaningless for most people in their twenties, but my friend died at 29, and though I attempted to keep up with her husband and kids, after a few years, they were first in Arizona then Vermont, I lost track of them because of his remarriage and disinclination to remain in contact. I miss her still. I used to talk to her in the car if I was alone. Thinking of her beautiful face right now I almost burst with love and longing. I hope her two kids have grown up happy and creative. She was amazing with her intelligence, skills like weaving and furniture making, and her ability to transform every space, even the smallest, into one interesting and warm. One of my great losses. Now I'm worried about my cousin, who has covid and is in a nursing home. I know to have kept up frequently by phone and to tell her every time how much I love her. Parting can be sudden and surprising. I'm now more prepared than ever.