Today was a going away cookout for a friend.

It’s interesting to be someplace where you only know the host (at least conversationally; I’d met a couple of the other attendees once before) and virtually no one else. Now, used to be that such an idea would fill me with dread and I’d probably end up not going at the last minute because I knew I’d be a total wallflower–and this was in my highly extroverted phase!

Even though I’ve become more introverted overall I’ve somehow managed to become better at talking to strangers or getting in on coversations with them. I find this phenomenon totally ass-backwards but there you have it.

I’m not completely sure how to describe my friendship with E. We weren’t the super-close share our life story friends but there was never anything really off limits when we did talk. We met through a local knitting group, and that in and of itself connotes a certain level of open-discusion-ness but that doesn’t mean I’d consider everyone else in the group the same level of friend.

The thing about E is that she is totally real. Totally honest. And totally appreciative of just everything. Not that she’s a Pollyanna type or anything, she’s frank about things and people she may not like, though I can’t honestly think of anyone off the top of my head who earned that distinction. She’s incredibly self-concious of her place in the world and without trying totally makes me more aware of my impact. She’s the type of person that makes you want to be better than who you are so that you feel worthy of her friendship–even though she’d never even think that about you.

And she’s moving.

I find that incredibly sad now that I’m home but I really feel lucky to have known her these past couple of years and hope we do actually stay in touch. Friends like these are a blessing.