Was downstairs and at my desk early yesterday morning. 

Didn’t sleep much or well. 

I was up and asking Alexa for the time every 20 or 30 minutes all the way from 2 until I pulled myself outta bed in surrender at 5:48.

Headspace is a fragile thing when I don’t sleep. 

Vultures circle. 

Downstairs I cracked open my laptop as mechanically as if brushing teeth, with nothing on my mind or heart.

Just started typing ….

“Dried out and crispy, flicking flint on stone, desperate for a spark.” 

Then I received a text.

Was early for a text. 

“Can you chat this morning?” 

Old college roommate.

Seeing his name made me smile.   

Lives on the other side of the state, doing the work of the angels. 

We’ll sometimes schedule cup-filling calls on our respective morning commutes.

Don’t recall a chat ever being impromptu. 

It’d been a few months since our last one.

Didn’t figure myself for good company, but I called him right away. 

Me: On your commute? 

He: Already parked and walking for coffee. 

Me: Is it a London Fog morning? 

He’s a big fan of the London Fog — Earl Gray tea, steamed milk, vanilla, hint of sugar.

“Tastes like a warm hug,” to quote my old roommate quoting one of his office colleagues. 

Sometimes I find myself ordering one when I see it on the menu.

Always makes me think of him.  

He: Ha, yes! I’ve been trying to cut back, though.

Me: Everything in moderation … to quote Ben Franklin. 

He: I just walked past his grave, actually. 

He really did … he passes Christ Church in downtown Philly on his morning pilgrimages for Warm Hugs. 

For the next 15 or so minutes … we had the most wonderful conversation. 

We talked easy … about nothing and everything … sleep, kids, family, work … making our days count.

During which I began to feel the gears of my heart start to loosen.  

Near the end I broke the fourth wall.

Told him how perfectly timed his text was.

Thanked him for thinking of me.  

Let him know his simple text had single-handedly re-directed the trajectory of the day I was headed for. 

Reminded him to never underestimate his capacity to be awesome. 

He made a point to remind me of the same.

__

I can’t overstate the profound magic inherent in the simple act of letting someone know when you’re thinking of them.

It scatters the vultures. 

At least long enough to give our Thursdays a fighting chance. 

Your timing will never not be perfect. 

You will be astonished by the flowers that bloom from parched earth.

I will go to my grave (while mentally walking past Ben Franklin’s) shouting it from the rooftops. 

The work of the angels, it is.