As long as you need to be

"And I've come to value - again - being stuck when that's all you can be, taking time, thinking through, being where you are as long as you need to be (and can be, by grace -- not having everything around you swept away or swallowed up)...
...allowing ourselves to believe that whatever we choose is going to be okay, because we've worked so hard and thought so hard in good faith to try to choose what will be most tranquil and true for each of us." --[my friend] Sharon Juliahna

I have the most beautiful friends. Yes, my friend, yes.

"She is a friend of mine. She gather me, man. The pieces I am, she gather them and give them back to me in all the right order. It's good, you know, when you got a woman who is a friend of your mind." - Toni Morrison, Beloved