Strange how things work. You’re there in Columbus, or Indiana (depending if you have already left the farm), probably enjoying your time, while I’m here looking at this Snoopy cartoon about a tree too big for his house. Made me laugh. Made me think of you.
This year’s been something else, hasn’t it? You went through hell and back. I watched from my phone screen - those stupid car races we got obsessed with, the dumb reels we kept sending at 2 AM. Funny how friendship works now. Two people watching tiny screens, separated by miles, but somehow getting closer. You told me once about feeling like everything was falling apart. I remember typing back “same.” We never used to talk like this before. Now here we are, sharing every small disaster, every tiny victory. The kind of stuff that seems meaningless but isn’t.
Maybe one day we’ll be old, sitting on a ranch somewhere, telling our kids stories about this year. About how we found each other again through the dumbest things - Formula 1, social media, late-night texts. Like Simone Weil once said: “attention is the rarest form of generosity”. That’s what we did, I guess. Paid attention. 😄
Not exactly the way we planned it, but here we are. Still standing. Still watching those cars go in circles. Still sending each other stupid memes. Maybe that’s what matters in the end.
Sometimes, the only way to meet new people is to say hello to a stranger at the gym or dog park. Or to tweet your heart out and see who responds. Or to ask that one friend—the “superconnector”—to invite you everywhere, even if the party sounds dull. We keep searching because friendship is so much more than passing time. It’s about what you give to someone else. It’s about the space you make for them. It’s also the honesty to say, “If this isn’t working now, maybe we’ll try again in ten years. I’ll still be here.” It’s that agency, that choice. We may have had an emotional roller coaster this year, but I’m glad we’re riding it together—reminding each other that the ups and downs matter less when you have someone standing by, watching the track with you, ready to hold on.
May the holiday season finds you well. And see you in the new year!