Friendship accross the distance

My friend Jenni came to Alberta from Australia to meet me in September 2006. She recently did a LO about me, and it brought me to tears. I wanted to share.

Hidden Journaling: I did this LO for my beautiful friend Oscar who shared so much of herself with me when we stayed with her. Oscar and I shared an empathy right from the very start, long before we met a special bond was formed. We had both been in horrific vehicle accidents and suffer Chonic Pain, a pain that is both physical and emotional, that saps the energy from our body and constantly threatens to invade our very soul. A pain that only loved ones and closest friends see, a pain that the ones we love most try hard to ignore because it frightens them, leaves them feeling helpless. We endeavour to hide it from them which takes enormous will power, enormous strength and sometimes engenders feelings of irritability on both sides at the very existence of it. Chronic pain means different medications means different side effects means feeling miserable in different ways. We find ways to cope -we have to. I have the bush, the Australian bush, where the sound of silence is broken only by the rustling of insects and small animals and the heavens live through the sounds of birds. Sherri has her river, where the quiet flow of water soothes the soul, the gentle lapping of small waves on river bank beat in time to her heartbeat and her spirit is renewed. This page is for her - my friend - we have shared and bared our souls, we are as one in this beautiful place.