I heard a zen proverb from a yoga teacher Judith Hanson Lasater a few years ago.

May we live like the lotus, at home in the muddy water.

Perhaps one could think of friendships as flowers in a muddy pond. We are swimming around in our own experiences, giving pieces of information to others. There are times when friendships go more underwater. I don´t mean they die, but are more like partially-submerged plants. There are times when they need to be pulled up a bit and brought into the light. That happened to me last night with a friend I made at Socios en Salud last year. Milagros is a midwife with a family from Cusco and a passion for public health in all of its practical implementation. Milagros and I pulled our friendships out of the swamp last night, and it was a job both big and small.