Friendship

I have gotten old enough to cherish, that's right, not appreciate, CHERISH friendships. When I was young I felt safe and happy when I recognized that I had become part of a little group of buddies who played baseball out in the old, weed-infested lot or some kind of cops and robbers game on our neighborhood streets in Houston.
Always I shall recall with shame and understanding of my hatred of my dark skin when I remember this very beautiful little dark skinned girl (she was a few shades darker than I) asking me, in the seventh grade in Houston, if I wanted to be her boy friend, thinking too myself ,"wow, she's really pretty," and "oh, she's too dark for me." I am so sad that this hatred of skin color continues to be a worldwide psychological illness that divides people of color from one another.

That is one illness I have to deal with daily and the other is the ongoing need to get beyond folks white skin color and choose to be with them because of the quality of their character not because of my fear, anger with, attraction to, or deference towards (yes, I suffer from that "if you're white, you're right bias)them because they happen to be white. Lots of mental and spiritual illness out here, I think.

How am I getting pass the color illness? Total gift! Having the opportunity to be with human beings who show themselves to be frank, caring, and open human beings over a long period of time.Here are two of my friends who have chosen to be there with me when life has been very good and when life has been incredibly hard... Caron and Donna.





Donna lives on a houseboat. And she went way, way, way out of her way to come and get Caron, who works in downtown Seattle and me, who was having a wonderful time reading and writing near Lake Washington in Seattle. She had to drive around for thirty minutes until she finally found the home where I was staying. We three spent some great time together on Donna's houseboat on the Sound that afternoon.
Donna creates beautiful objects in colored glass, she is a wonderful painter, and she help people to bring order and pick appropriate furniture for their homes.Here is one of the colored bowls she designed.













The hours passed so very quickly. We shared stories... living, loving, losing, failing, trying again, needing, finding, caring, hoping stories... and Donna took Caron and I to her studio and the view from her studio...well, you reach your own conclusions about the view.

The day ended too very soon... but I returned back to my wonderful rooms in Tacoma... refreshed and so grateful to have had that time with two wonderful friends.