Rules for Visiting

by Jessica Francis Kane

Perhaps a best friend is someone who . . . holds the story of your life in mind. Sometimes in music a melodic line is so beautiful the notes feel inevitable; you can anticipate the next note through a long rest. Maybe that is friendship. A best friend holds your story in mind so notes don’t have to be repeated.

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, Newton’s Third Law of Motion, by which he meant forces come in pairs. With my gift of time from the university, I’d been trying to reach out, as they say, trying to make a family of friends. Just now it occurred to me what the opposite force was, the anchor to my year of visiting.