Dear Celeste,

I’d be interested in YOUR view of being a good friend. I have many friends and it is my New Year’s resolution to make more friends every year. That said, really close friends are few. My closest family are my best friends. The small and changing community of CoSMonauts who live here and with whom I dine and work with daily, can be counted on as friends and advisors. They are people who are highly functional and productive — brilliant young people who stay, are paid and serve CoSM handsomely while it serves them. Many learn and grow here and then move on. Some here have been working with us for twelve or sixteen years. I truly love everyone in the world with compassion because even the worst among us suffer and have to live with themselves. 

When I was young, my parents were owners/directors of a girls sleep away camp in Maine. For eight solid weeks for twenty-five summers, 250 women and girls lived in community working and playing together. On the last day, everyone got on buses and in cars to go back to their homes and families all over the U.S.  The wailing and crying that I saw changed the way I felt about friends. Some people would return the next summer and some would never be seen again. Friends come and go. 

Thanks for writing. Lovely to make your acquaintance. Always open to getting to know new friends.

In loving service,

Allyson