“How are you doing?” The questions arrive in pairs, “How is everyone?”

“I’m fine…we’re fine.” My mantra uses  ‘fine’ too often this summer. Few explore behind what ‘fine’ means unless they know me well. This spring I tried to use the word ‘fine’ and my Durga group of women friends took turns pulling my fingers off my home and my child to lure me back out into the world when I needed it most. Outside this group were many more to fill in the task of pulling me up from a hole I did not know I had fallen into. In the emergency room with Davis (too often this year),  Deena would drop off tea or a package of goodies for an ambulance trip to the Reno hospital. Dear colleagues from our busy world of real estate made extra space in their schedules to initiate a hike or to chat when we stumbled upon one another during our weekly open house caravans and in the office.

“But really I’m fine,” I tried to explain.

A good friend knows when Fine means Fragile. Thank you for that.