I am happily ensconced at the computer, typing away. Now, normally all computing at home is happily done, but this is more so because my friend D came over for a visit. She has been missing from my life for quite a while, for reasons that sadden my heart. But when she could look up from the unexpected wreckage of her life, she found courage and purpose and reached out to those who had been her friends.

She brought two of her children with her, M who is 18 months and Z who is nearly five. Two delightful girls I must say. M is a little Cindy Lou. She is wide-eyed, exploring every part of her surroundings. I chuckled to see her test every sitting surface in the living room...the stool, the doggy bed, the scale, stepper.... She clearly enjoyed "riding" one step down, but could not figure out that if she were to switch to the other step, her ride would continue. Miss Z, as her mother oft calls her, is quiet and loving and full of stories. Of course, I had to take the time to teach Z a game. In no time flat, she fully embraced "Go Fish!"

D is going back to school to provide for her family now that she is a single mother. Going back to school means planning and preparation and the dreaded essay application. Before she came, she sent a text message asking if we could work on the latter, especially since she knew that it would be no source of dread for me. D is very, very talented as a writer. She enjoyed a healthy blog following until she needed to pull her online journal due to the difficulties of her divorce. But the idea of writing a personal statement, especially now when her life is so very personal, was a bit overwhelming to her.

So, here we are, dueling laptops, churning out stories. She is telling that of her life. I am working on Aryanth's. Now, I would be remiss if I did not admit that she passed me her laptop for a sentence or two (or more), but what I do know about D is that whatever I craft for her will only be a mere shadow of the masterpiece she will eventually reveal. Alas, I do rather envy her way with words, the way she can wend her way through a message with just the perfect words and rich language that is an arrow shaft directly to your soul. You knew her when you read her blog. You became her as she walked the path of a mother and of a wife, celebrating the lives of her children in a way that I had never encountered. Sorrow fills my heart at the destruction of her life as a mother, but I marvel at how she has embraced, albeit sometimes with tears streaming down her cheeks, the challenges before her as she rebuilds her life.

From the moment I first knew her, I found D to be someone who encourages me as a woman and inspires me to continue to take the dark parts of my childhood and turn them into beauty in my own life. We share the truth that we had a childhood that really was not. While I know I am no longer trapped there, trapped then, I marvel at the woman she has become and long to join her as one who thrives despite this, despite that, despite all.