Five Full Days

Yesterday I said good-bye to one of my favorite people, my bestie bird friend, my bosom friend. Brenda came to visit me for five full days, and we walked around in my new neighborhood, went for runs, explored the Sleeping Bear Dunes, indulged in French Brunch in Traverse City, admired the Japanese Gardens in Grand Rapids, bought records, drank local beer, stuck temporary tattoos on our arms, and talked talked talked and laughed laughed laughed. I have expressed this before, but I will again here: It is so wonderful and comforting to be in the company of someone who knows me. I have made some good friends here in Michigan already, but to be with a friend who always gets the inside joke, who still laughs when my jokes aren't funny, and who can recall the things I can't remember is truly amazing. What a gift a good girlfriend is.