being true

This morning a met up with a good friend and ex-colleague of mine for a coffee catch up. Laurent, who is a french export, stylish urbanite and adept business man, greeted me with his usual European double cheek kiss (which I always forget to do and end up looking completely uncultured). One of the reasons why I love Laurent is his penchant for laborious story telling. He is one the few people that I know that is completely open, honest and succinct when conveying his life experiences. I love talking to Laurent.

Among various tales of his family, past relationships, parents, he stumbled onto a topic that really struck a chord with me. It is an idea that I have been thinking a lot about lately but didn't really know what to do with. Laurent mentioned that he missed the quality of friendships he had in Paris. He explained how, in Paris, when you are friends with someone you can share with them you fears. He said that yes, sharing with someone your fears puts you in a somewhat vulnerable position but that's okay because, they share their fears with you too. I had to stop then and slowly lower my soy cap. How wonderfully simple yet, so extremely difficult.