Kindred Spirits

So pretty much everyone I work with at my new job is nice but there's one in particular who's really special. She helps me keep my sanity. Funny thing is, I was scared of her at first because she comes off as really intense but that's just because she's real and she understands what it's like to not have that perfect sunshine-and-roses life where everything goes your way. At just 28, she's the mother of four and had her first at 15. She's an orphan, both her parents having died within the last 6 years. She understands that the world can be a cruel and bitterly unfair place and somehow, even though we've never talked about it outright, we seem to hold a mutual, unspoken understanding of each other's pain.

Most of all though, she doesn't try to make me into someone I'm not. She accepts me for who I am without trying to fit me into the perfect little box of who she thinks I should be. She's real, grit, attitude, and all, and shows me the same courdosy. She understands what it feels like to not fit into other people's box but unlike me, she's gotten to where instead of trying or at least pretending to the way I do, she just looks at them and says "up yours". I admire her strength. I don't think you have to be happy to be strong. I think sometimes it takes more strength to be openly unhappy instead of putting on that mask and faking a smile so no one judges you. It takes more courage to be real, regardless of what other people might think. I don't think I've ever met a more real person in my life.

Even just knowing each other a few weeks, she gives me a great comfort. Somehow I know I could talk to her and she would understand or at least care, even though I've never tried and frankly she doesn't have a reason to. Even just now, not talking but knowing she's on the other side of the computer screen, just as unable to sleep as I am, gives me comfort. It makes me feel like I may not be alone in this world after all.