Bonding (Written for an Old Friend)

 My heart fares better
Over time 
With people who truly
Respect me...
Closer to fine...
Truly love me unconditionally...
(I've never married these people, fyi...)
Way back in high school
We were both satellites
Of stronger personalities...
That's how we met...
Both outsiders
When it came to
Social situations...
Maybe still outsiders
To our respective selves...
There was an understanding...
Immediate...
And, of course, as a teen,
Filled with hormones,
I crushed pretty hard...
(She was pretty hot...)
Friendship grew...
Matured...
Lots of driving around backroads
Talking...
Figuring out
Who we really were...
Trusting our respective intentions...
Respecting boundaries...
Listening to music...
The Cure, O.M.D., 
Alternative 80's,
Indigo Girls...
We met fucking Joan Jett!!!
So many amazing memories...
Random parties
Where we were still outsiders...
Entertaining ourselves
While the world revolved around us...
Holding hands
While peeing in the snow...
Holding hands in Portsmouth, NH,
For the Izod alligator tattoo...
Road trips to the coast...
We served in the military together,
In the 90's...
A 180 degree turn on the highway
Between New Hampshire
And Maine...
I-95...
The military was not so inclusive then...
We saw that storm together...
For a platonic friendship,
We were sometimes
Closer than family,
Closer than lovers...
I definitely love her...
She's been rooting me on from afar
For decades...
The kind of friendship
You don't let go...
Nourishment for the soul
Knowing that she
Cares about me...
Radiates love to me
After all of these years...
I have precious few friendships like this
In my life...
I value every single one...
I am thankful for her presence
In my life...
"Maybe give me insight between black and white..
The best thing you've ever done for me
Is to help me take my life less seriously, it's only life after all...
"Well darkness has a hunger that's insatiable
And lightness has a call that's hard to hear
I wrap my fear around me like a blanket
I sailed my ship of safety till I sank it, I'm crawling on your shore..."
- Indigo Girls, Closer to Fine