DAY ELEVEN: Absent friends

Charli (pictured) lives in the airbnb and has been a great, if quite sleepy, companion for the trip so far.

This evening I attended a funeral online, live-streamed from a Birmingham church. Later, a photo arrived in my messages of a rosebush in bloom, planted in remembrance of another good friend. Both these made me feel closer to and a very long way from home. 

A wise friend advised me to seek comfort in nature after a loss. I don't remember all of her suggestions (likely they included bathing in trees and rivers and skies), but following her slightly arresting direction to 'plunge your hands into the fur of animals' really has been a balm this year. 

To absent friends.