into other houses

I am often overwhelmed at the great privilege it is to really know another human being.  It's to hear someone's stories, to look through a person's eyes as if they were windows into other houses.  When I listen to the hearts of my friends, it's as if I get to see the way they've arranged the furniture there inside.  At first, I notice how distinct it is from my own -- the differing colors, styles and uses of rooms.  Some homes are far finer and more lovely than mine.  But then, I catch a glimpse of something shared.  It could be, perhaps, a book which resides in both our libraries,  a dress hanging in both our closets,  a smell from the kitchen of my favorite food cooking or a familiar song playing in the background- a tune I thought that only I loved.

This is the place where real friendship is ignited.  We discover at first a mutual love of some thing, some hobby, some place.  And before much time has passed, we realize that what we have really come to love is not just a person's intersecting interests but the very person herself.  

I have much to be joyful about tonight.

"Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: What! You too? I thought I was the only one."

C.S. Lewis