Day 04: A Friend I Adore

This one is unexpectedly easy! Ever since we became friends, I've been a little crushed out on Chantal. Her ability to attract people to her amazes me. Her dazzling smile as she enters our usual hangout elicits the same from those who know her (which seems to be everyone), and you can feel the energy in the room go up a notch.

She's a survivor, and has the balls-out courage to keep reaching for a life that is authentically her own, even if it's not a life others expect or approve of. She raised a daughter on her own, has owned her own business, has been an artist and a teacher, understands physics, and is just insanely creative. Furthermore, she lives with significant challenges that I have never had to contend with, and that I think might break me. Oh, and she had a motorcycle for a while.

I envy her, and I suspect that she'd be surprised to know that. What I envy is the love that flows so effortlessly into and out from her life. Relationships and closeness have always been difficult for me, and I'm just gobsmacked to witness this great wealth of connection, at how loved and supported she is. Family, friends, community--she's got it all. Whatever happens, at the end of her life I'm certain that her last words won't be "I didn't love enough."