If anyone living close to my apartment was just hanging out at the end of their driveways in the dark, they may or may not have just experienced a lengthy stream of energetic manias pouring [out from the mouth of an upbeat lady in her twenties] into a small black rectangle* while staring, mesmerized, at the bright half-moon while talking radically with her hands as they shot into the air and her two feet as they bounced on and off the ground and spun her body around in vivacious circles.

That was me ten minutes ago. The person on the other end, N, spoke passionately and aggressively about one of her girlfriends back home, A,  and the guy A was seeing. “They seem to have fallen deeply in love over the last few weeks…” N went on to say that the guy wasn’t right for A and how he was being manipulative. Then N said “Sometimes I can keep quiet about things and let them ride out. But this time,  I HAD to speak up for her. I had to say “NO” and help A see that she doesn’t have to settle for this.”

The guy was telling A that she had to change. He was making her justify why she behaved certain ways and why she said certain things to him. He was keeping her stagnant in a self that she’s carried around with her all of her life and was not helping her out of the role. A was attracted to him because she’s always attracted to him. Meaning, “he” is always the same type of guy. She always dances the same dance. N wasn’t going to let her toes get stepped on any longer. Or at least she’d try.

N’s compassion for A is that of a true friends’. N doesn’t want to see A get hurt again. She doesn’t want her to fall down into the rabbit hole of yet another dysfunctional relationship. Nothing gets N more fiery and passionate than somebody who isn’t aware of how they’re manipulating someone else. Especially when it comes to a true friend. N is a true friend.

“N, can I shoot you a little rhyme of how your words are making me feel right now?”

It went like this:

girl don’t stop preachin’ your words of

a u t h e n t i c i t y

they’re pumpin’ blood thru my veins like bolts of

e l e c t r i c i t y

no use in gettin’ complicated, it’s all about

s i m p l i c i t y . . .

listen to your heart, no need to justify

f e l i c i t y

-vmy

Never let someone tell you that you should be any different than what you are right now. The one you love should accept, inspire, support and cherish you for all that you are, right now.

Love like Jesus. Unconditionally. With an open heart. We’re all on this journey together. Will we support and build each other up or belittle and tear each other down?

And N said to me “Girl, where are you right now? Where are you finding these rhymes?”

And I responded “I’m

”

And she said…

She was, in fact, less than a mile away on our tiny little island, also looking up at the sky, as we each poured our hearts out under the same moon.

And she said “This is our friendship. I love our friendship. We can be here, a mile away as we both look at the sky. And we’ll still be looking at the same moon no matter where we’re travelling. Down south, in Central America… We’ll always be connected”

Thanks for sharing the sky with me, N <3

I love you all already as you are! You should too <3 Thanks for reading 🙂

<3 V

*The use of the word “rectangle” here is referring to a modern day cellular phone. (C. Florez 2014)