Louise

Louise and I met for coffee this morning and I was glad to see her. Ever since we met walking on the lakeshore over the pandemic we have found affinity in examining our lives and figuring out what's ahead. She is 64 and reflecting on retirement and so we discuss her options.

She is also a bit listless about the future with her current partner. Both have been married before and they see their arrangement as comfortable but not perfect as real life seldom is.

There is something soothing about seeing her because her phisophical angle on life agrees with my own penchant to delve into crevices on how to improve the self. Our discussions aren't about the lipsticks we choose and more rooted in how to process the world better and yet she is a very tasteful and stylish woman all the same.

She still doesn't know about my gender history (I am brutally honest about everything else) and talks about our societal role as women which pleases and humbles in equal measure. It is a relationship I want to foster and maintain not because it feeds the ego but instead because of its comfortable and relaxed ease.