Winds of change

I just got back from driving my good friend to the airport. She had two giant, overweight bags to check, two carry-ons, two cats to store in cargo, and a one-way ticket to New York City.

Things have been happening in two's lately. Mia is just one of two friends of mine moving out of Los Angeles this month. The other is Nicole, and that, fortunately, is only for two months as she ships off to a temporary gig in Chicago. But that is two months more than I would like, as, in the short time that I have known her, she has turned into one of my closest friends.

The funny thing is, twelve months ago, I didn't know either of them. I hung out primarily with another group of girls, two of whom have recently acquired boyfriends, and have sadly, slowly, fallen out of my day-to-day contact. I don't begrudge them for it - rather, I have watched in awe as two of my very best friends have fallen madly, deeply in love with men that I am pretty sure will become their husbands. Their lives are changing. All of our lives are changing.

Amidst all this change - which isn't so much change exactly, so much as it makes me think of clouds, moving quickly in the breeze, morphing into new formations just as you fixed your eye on the old ones - I've found myself especially inspired by two other friends that have recently become part of my social landscape.

First, let me say, I don't know that I've ever been "inspired" by a friend, before. That term sounds like something better saved for a grown-up, a Professional Corporate Person perhaps, someone with their shit together a bit more than I. But I have made some extraordinary girl friends here in Los Angeles, two of whom recently decided that life was too short to coast through, waiting for a fairy prince to save them. These are women. They've started businesses, restarted their lives, made sweeping changes in order to better themselves. Both have just gone through possibly their hardest years ever and I know they are dealing with their own seemingly-bottomless wells of insecurities and obstacles. I, however, just see two pillars that inspire me to build. On myself.

I'm sharpening my Number 2 pencils, y'all. This is going to be a busy fall.