The best kinda friends 👏👏💓 Loved the part about you taking the time to find the clothes that felt truest to you. Small decisions that speak such volumes.
Sylvie, the magpie image gives this essay its deepest structure: you gathered shining evidence of a self that survived beneath the years of the wrong life. Rachel’s mother, the banana telephone, midnight drives, and The Coven all show that freedom becomes sustainable when it is held inside relationships capable of delight and discernment. The final image of friends laughing with you and quietly taking the banana away turns belonging into something more demanding than acceptance; it becomes loving witness with enough courage to protect the line between eccentricity and danger. Thank you for naming the people who give us room to be vivid without leaving us alone with what could harm us.
"People who'll laugh
when we answer the door
in a fur coat
with a banana
pressed to our ear—
and who'll quietly
take the banana away
if one day
it stops being
a joke."
That's the whole difference
between chaos
and belonging.
Not the fur coat.
Whether someone stays close enough
to notice
the exact moment
it stops
being funny.
— AËLA
The best kinda friends 👏👏💓 Loved the part about you taking the time to find the clothes that felt truest to you. Small decisions that speak such volumes.
Don't they just! It took a while but eventually I realised that it was about starting small. Thank you for reading. 💙
Toast looks hectic
Lovely, warm storytelling !
Thank you, I can confirm the toast was lovely!
Does that make me craaaazayyyy does tha tmake me craaaazayyyyy
Immediately that song is stuck in my head! 😂
A beautifully written glimpse into the past. All while honouring the present.
Sounds like you have some really special friends, Sylvie. Enduring friendships. So lucky 🍀
P.S. That song took me right back to the 90s!
Sylvie, the magpie image gives this essay its deepest structure: you gathered shining evidence of a self that survived beneath the years of the wrong life. Rachel’s mother, the banana telephone, midnight drives, and The Coven all show that freedom becomes sustainable when it is held inside relationships capable of delight and discernment. The final image of friends laughing with you and quietly taking the banana away turns belonging into something more demanding than acceptance; it becomes loving witness with enough courage to protect the line between eccentricity and danger. Thank you for naming the people who give us room to be vivid without leaving us alone with what could harm us.
Handful of people … how true
Yes definitely, a few minutes incredible friends are worth a whole party of superficial ones. 💙
Couldn’t agree more
Hold on the them and those memories. They will always be important.
The memories and the friends are so golden!
Butter makes everything better...
Hahaha! Indeed especially the type with salt crystals!
I don't bake, so I have NO idea when once would us "unsalted" butter...
Exactly. Why would anyone do that!? 😂
Absolutely, thank you AELA 💙