on the second dinner-

i made dinner for a friend last night. by bon chance, as most happenings like such usually are. it was the second time i was making dinner for him. as i stood over the oven, i listened intently as he paced the kitchen speaking to me of life. something so simple, yet so hard to put into words. but he was trying to flesh the whole of it out, so i let him. and i was so incredibly humbled to have the opportunity to listen.

it was another one of those sacred moments- they just get me every time. i could feel the weight in his words, though to any observer they'd seem only superficial. but i knew him... i know him. because when i hear his voice, and listen to the words i can read so finely between each pause. each breath...each introduction to what follows...

and the thing that makes our entire evening so divine is the fact that it started with him picking me up from a bus stop and making the choice to come inside my flat instead of driving up the hill to his. it is that choice which welcomed a night of transparency.

i gave him a pen and stationary.

"what is this for?" he asked.

"for you. i want you to write me a letter."

"what, keiko? why? what am i supposed to say? i don't know what to write..."

"you will know when it's time. there is no due date on this. just write what you have been unwilling to say out loud." and i left it at that. until later in the evening of course, he brought up the assignment again.

"keiko, i just don't know what i'm going to say. but i will write you something. it will be good."

"i know it will. and i look forward to reading it." those were the last words i would say regarding the subject.


my friends, they have so much potential for greatness. so much that i ache inside when i see they aren't living up to it. when they don't see their own worthiness; the reason i and others alike have fallen so madly in love with who they are. i have learnt, sometimes it takes someones belief in us to spark the flame. he has it. i can see it flickering. not the kind when a flame is about to go out, but the flickering that takes place when a lighter doesn't i have the strength to hold itself on. it's just waiting to catch fire from a candle already lit.

when he see's how beautiful his own words are, he'll know... it's time to be more...

"Child, child, do you not see? For each of us comes a time when we must be more than what we are."

Lloyd Alexander