Our friend, Adrian’s Dad died this week, and his friends came together to support him. “I know he [God] has made it possible for Olive, Alex and Hugh to be there for Adrian today,” wrote our friend Charlotte in a message on the morning of the funeral. “He finds us who we need way ahead of us needing them.” I thought that was a beautiful idea. I thought about what Charlotte has come to mean to Olivia, what Olivia has come to mean to Adrian, what Adrian has come to mean to Hugh. To Alex. And so on. And how friendships have a way of weaving their way in and out of our lives. And how the people we need, can very often land on our doorsteps, without our even knowing that we needed them. In the form of a hug, or a fillet mignon, or a walk down memory lane. Today I read a lovely quote from Great Goddesses: Life Lessons from Myths & Monsters by Nikita Gill. “The universe plots to bring those who can heal each other together.” I watched my Mum walk along the beach this week with her oldest friend in the world. She and Irene met in Great Neck, New York when they were both toddlers. They have kept in touch over the decades, and every few years, their paths cross. Irene lost her Mum last week, and I do believe that the universe had a hand in bringing Maria to Longboat Key within days of Big Irene’s passing. Coincidence, yes. But I choose God. I choose the universe. I choose that mystical, otherworldly force that resides over, and within us all. It was a beautiful thing to watch them walking the beach together, a literal lifetime of thick-and-thin friendship between them.