I must say that for many years I neglected my friends. I stopped seeing them once I married my life partner, became a mother, and started working. I lost them. Why look for them? Pablo was my everything: my friend, advisor, boyfriend, partner in adventures, travel, and everyday life, my lover. We had fun alone wherever we went: at the movies, in a bar, in the countryside, with friends, or in silence, each of us with a book or watching a television series entwined on the bedroom couch. Besides, my activities as a wife and mother, combined with my professional life, fulfilled me completely.

Years passed. Due to the pandemic and Pablo's cancer, the complicity between us grew, and for 27 months we formed a capsule. However, when he left this plane and I felt as strong as a mollusk, my friends immediately came to my rescue, welcoming me into a web of sisterhood that only they can form. How surprised I was to find companions I hadn't seen in 30, 40, or even 50 years. How grateful I am! Now I realize that, in addition to not having charged me for my absence, they sustained me with their presence, their displays of affection, their patience, and thoughtful gestures, to the point of becoming a survival mechanism.

Old friends are special because with them, you don't need to explain anything; you just need to catch up. If for various reasons we stop seeing them, over the years we find them again and magic happens: you greet each other and chat with such familiarity that it seems like the conversation was interrupted the day before, over a cup of coffee or a glass of wine; as if time hadn't passed. These friends who know you so well have a mother's insight to discover how you are and how you feel without you even opening your mouth. These are friendships with which we feel free, because we know each other as we were before we learned to create and protect ourselves with masks, stories, or poses to feel accepted.

This weekend, I reunited with two of these friends, which made me appreciate and remember that regular get-togethers with them are as necessary as sleeping, exercising, or eating well; that it's important not only to nurture a romantic relationship, but also another facet of love expressed in friendship. All the happiness, health, and abundance we experience in life arise from the capacity to love and be loved. It's a matter of remembering and rediscovering this to pursue with greater vigor the shared laughter, the authenticity, and openness with which we speak to one another or share our life stories, regardless of whether it's meant to reveal lesser aspects of ourselves.

How enjoyable are those moments of conversation and conversation after dinner, where the freedom to express oneself and show vulnerability, without fear of judgment, is born. Time doesn't count, there's no competition or vanity, only the calm and honest exchange of thoughts and feelings. The subject matter is the least of it. Beyond the words, what matters is the quality of energy that underlies and nourishes the relationship. I need my friends. I want to continue needing them.

How true it is that once moments of crisis pass, you realize they always come back loaded with something good, whether they have served to open our consciousness or made us grow and appreciate the value of things we previously took for granted. Everything in this life is subject to impermanence; having supportive friends is a treasure to be cultivated.