a friend is someone who likes you

This gorgeous little poem of a book - written and illustrated by the acclaimed Joan Walsh Anglund - makes a powerful (if diminutive) argument in favor of friendship and is currently on my short list of favorite things. After thumbing through it in a bookstore I bought it for my friend on the occasion of her '29th' birthday - which is tomorrow!

My favorite passage: "[Sometimes]...you think you don't have any friends. Then you must stop hurrying and rushing so fast... and move very slowly, and look around carefully, to see someone who smiles at you in a special way... or a dog that wags its tail extra hard when you are near... or a tree that lets you climb it easily... or a brook that lets you be quiet when you want to be quiet. Sometimes you have to find your friend."

C'est vrai.

To all the friends (online and off) whom I have found in precisely this manner - here's to you!