More Reflections from Venice

I'm just enjoying the bells of Venice ringing (almost incessantly, but beautiful nonetheless) and admiring the way my friend snores to the tune of We Will Rock You It feels so easy to see beauty in the world that I'm even contemplating eating the airport lounge croissant I've had in my bag since 4am yesterday just to bring me round The sun is shining and even through the gauze window covering I'm already admiring the beauty of a roof tile from a distance of 5 metres The beams above me have no business being so abundant, a morning bin truck makes sweet tinkling tunes as glass is emptied in, I'm a perfect temperature and I've just yawned and stretched with expert precision to feel ultimate comfort... I stopped writing there as my friends woke up. It was so interesting as one said she was woken by the bin truck and just felt overwhelming admiration for the efficiency of Venice haha! The other friend told me how pretty she was finding the roof tiles and it all made me smile because I'd been writing down the same quiet thoughts. There was no buy-in for my "We Will Rock You" snore concept though but consensus is that she snores inoffensively (unlike the friend in the other room who shook the floorboards of our Belfast apartment in a previous year's trip) Our trips used to be just by rail but then trains and local restaurants priced themselves above a trip to Italy (or Spain or Poland) and now we have "very authentic Italian meals" by travelling to Pisa or Venice. And the equivalent of "Spanish Winter Sunshine" by going to Alicante or Altea for the day. The fallback position is that we could sit in a shipping container together and have a wonderful time - so taking a punt on a trip away is easy. We could never leave the tarmac and every penny would be well spent. Other than one hilarious discussion about one friend's life choice of believing carrying a sausage roll in her pocket all day posed no risks, we never have any cross words. (Occasionally, I try to sneak in food hygiene facts in a loving way and have quietly checked everyone else is on the same page as me regarding the four-hour rule for unrefrigerated meat or cheese). The greatest thing was how much joy the discussion brought regardless. The "remember that time" stories are amazing because they could equally be stories of how someone ruined the day but nothing plays out that way. We all coexist with complete rights on our own identities. I stopped writing here... Then picked up again after reading "The God Who Loves You" by Carl Dennis. I think in some ways we are our higher selves when in the microcosm of our friendships. Those moments of being loved just for the acceptance of being. I don't quite know how I got an "in" - I simply walked with them from the train station about 12 years ago to a works night out and was immediately inner circle, even after we all stopped working together. I've always questioned myself for being maybe deliberately not easy going but I don't want to just be useful or pleasant to be around. This time with friends, it helps me make sense of it... There could be a whole paragraph here telling you why my friends love me but maybe that just needs to sit with me and find its permanence in my mind and not on this page.