you’re not Kyle

My phone rang just now with a number I don’t recognise. A grandmotherly voice said, “Kyle! Congratulations! I’m so excited for you.”

I said, Sorry, who is this?

“You’re not Kyle!”

“No!” I said, “But I’m excited for him too.” We laughed like we knew each other. “We’re all so happy for him,” she said. I said, Me too. Please tell him from me that it’s brilliant and I am so happy for him that he has all this great nourishing support around him.

Sunday I picked up a quilt cover from an online seller and we talked half an hour and hugged and she said, I already adore you. Strangers can share love. And families can be alienating and punitively cold. Stranger love vividly real and momentary before it dissolves into the stream of our lives is what keeps me going, some days. I love you, strangers.