from Notes on Love and Courage Hugh Prather

"I am comfortable around my friend. For reasons not always clear to me, she loves me. She has seen me blunder; she is aware of my annoying self indulgences, my private habits. All the things I once thought no one could know about me and still love me, she knows. In her presence I have very little to guard against, because she distills me from my words. We have been together a long time, and now some grace within her can see me when her eyes are open".