mirrors

it's been a long time since we sat down to coffee here.
we usually meet up the road these days.
but this morning we hung out in my living room.

i don't think we got one minute into the conversation before her tears came.

she sheepishly reached for one of the napkins on the coffee table and commented
that she doesn't do this anywhere else. meaning her tears. so quickly into the tears.

'there's something about your house,' she said as she wiped her eyes.

i took that as a compliment and we kept goin'.

she went thru a few napkins and we laughed when i got up to get more.

her grace and beauty can knock me over.
her talents, gifts and strengths fill me with pride.

and yet, there she sat and somehow she didn't quite know what she had.
she didn't quite know what i saw.

she holds some of it.
she knows some of it.

but i know for darn sure she doesn't see what i see.
cause if she did, she'd never have a drop of self doubt ever.

it's so clear to me.
i don't have any doubt for her.

now.
turn that on myself.
and well.......yeah....okay.....there's plenty of self doubt.

i thought of our friendship over the years.
it's hard to believe it's been so many years.
and i thought of the times she was a mirror for me.
times i just needed that extra foot up and reminder,
and times where i truly don't know how i'd have made
it without her. for real.

mirrors.

i was her mirror this morning.
telling her all i saw.
sincerely truthfully telling her of what i saw in her.

mirrors.

we so need them.

we so forget our own beauty.

and i guess...we really need to learn how to be our own mirrors.
that matters.
and i guess it's something we should always be workin' on.

but when we forget, or when we can't....what a gift it is to have
one in a friend.