Springing

Though I am now sitting in rainy Nampa, Idaho, near Boise, the warm spring came to Michigan during the weeks of my loneliness. It got warm all of the sudden, beautifully warm. Then we had daylight savings and it was warm and light.

At first I was incredulous. If I was a bulb in the ground, I was going to stay good and in the ground until May. It took about a week for me to believe it. I felt myself thawing in a way, literally getting happier by the day.

Also, I got some friends. By a combination of factors, Leah's boyfriend's friend from Troy, MI, who worked with Tom on an surgery as a third-year medical student, the sympathetic-looking girls from yoga, all of whom turned out to live in the same building downtown, invited me to watch Modern Family. Then we all went climbing together at the local rock wall, Tom included. Then to the downtown art walk, more Modern Family, a fundraiser for the girls' physical therapy program's non-profit, and a run in the park. Because they're all relatively recent transplants to Flint, they had some time for us and me especially.

There's a benefit in talking about our hard times, to remind each other they're a normal part of the experience. I thought a post script was necessary because the good gift of friends came at the right time, too.