This morning, over coffee, I came across an article, in Sunday’s the New York Times which resonated with me.

If you are on Facebook, you have experienced the innumerable cross-species relationships between animals: kittens and puppies, dogs and cats, elephants and ducks, whatever seemingly bizarre combo you can conjure. We were told when we were kids that love could never happen between differences, that fighting like “cats and dogs” would be a given between those two groups. Little did we know that animals can transcend those “givens,” and that the most incredible relationships can occur when there is an opportunity; that “sameness” does not matter, and that differences can make a relationship all the more interesting. It just takes is the ability to see past the exterior, the looks, the nationality, the age.

My dearest friend was almost old enough to be my grandmother. I had no elderly relatives to stand beside, to learn from, to laugh with, to love. My friend was an immigrant; she escaped from religious persecution and landed here and created a life, a family, a career with honors. She was my mentor. She taught me many lessons, skills, bolstered my strength, educated me.

People create their own families to fill needs and we each became part of one another’s lives.  I miss her daily but I learned to be open to the possibility of friendship with people who were younger and older than myself. I learned to see beyond the skin and engage in the mutual learning that takes place between the souls whose bodies are merely rented.

This article is the tale of x-ray vision; when we put looks, age, country-of-origin, wrinkles, shticks, behaviors, such that all that appears on the outside becomes a thin, paper wrapper for what is beneath, love may prevail.

Read this.

When Your Greatest Romance Is a Friendship