My friend Maren was in town the week before last, and we spent Valentine’s together. A day worthy of shiny red shoes, eating scrumptious banh-mi with cock sauce, sipping steaming and belly warming beverages, dancing, making cookies, and, of course, talking up a storm. How lucky I am to have her in my life. Lucky we can be of different generations, yet cut from the same cloth:getting jazzed, funky, and silly; laughing at our foibles; sharing secrets and dreams; and loving wholeheartedly, that best of all.