To my friend

Communicating with you is rather like praying.
I don’t know if there is anyone out there listening.
So I will do as I do when I don’t know…

I thought of you this morning as I was putting my shoes on,
the sneakers with the special insoles
prescribed by a podiatrist
and the little strip put there by the orthopedist.
I have already taken pain medication
which I take now to head off pain
rather than wait until I am well into it.

Life is good…very good.
Any pain I experience I try to turn to a prayer of gratitude.
“Keep moving” say the commercials and that is correct,
I can still move, not like I could,
but I will keep it up as long as I am able.
The body isn’t me.
It is like a cart I push around.
The wheels are wobbly, the frame is rusty.
It can’t carry as much. But it still works.
Oil and a screw-driver is all it needs.

The last we talked you were having some sad thoughts.
I offered you my support as best I could.
I don’t know if that is what you needed.
I hope that whatever you needed you got and are getting.

But this isn’t about you.
It is about me.
It is about me missing you,
and the support you always gave me when we shared
like sisters
our sore feet and creeky joints and sad thoughts.