Five Years a Writer

This week's post is a short story inspired by four things: a quote from Kay Redfield Jamison's memoir An Unquiet Mind (“Love, like life, is much stranger and far more complicated than one is brought up to believe.”); a photo of two young girls (below); the painting titled “Tea” by the astonishing American artist Andrew Kowch (see it here ); and a piece by my writing friend Darlene D that she read aloud in one of our "Spark your Writing" sessions. While writing is a solo act, it is most fun -- and often most productive -- when pursued in the company of generous and willing writers who share their talent and uplift my own efforts in the pursuit of story of every kind.  The story below is fiction; the core message of loving friendship is not.  Magdalen and Matilda: A good life The lifelong friendship between Magdalen and Matilda began in kindergarten and persisted into their old age. The abiding love between them overrode the niggling annoyances that any genuine friends