April 18, 2011

A Passover Prayer, and a Cross

Cross for NB

You know you're fortunate when, without even realizing it, you have a very close friend that seemingly came out of nowhere. Someone who casually stepped in one day, and stayed. Over time you realize how you depend on them for support, comfort, humor and their remarkable gift for recognizing the oddness and beauty of things many others miss.

You know you're lucky when your work brings you to such a friend. My friend is very modest and very private, she is a brilliant woman battling a devastating cancer.  She herself is a cancer researcher, neuroblastoma to be specific - a childhood brain tumor. She's witty and wry, compassionate and open, always the optimist, and loving.

My friend wears the "Square Cross", among several other pieces. The cross however, is her very favorite.

Our personal objects are among the things that help steel us when facing the world. We wear jewelry as emblems of ourselves, talismans for good luck, protectorates and shields against ill will and the vagaries of  misfortune. Our objects and jewelry have as much power as we assign them, as we hope they possess intrinsically, to giveback to us. We give our precious symbols the power to let us believe - and sometimes that's more powerful than a force we can scientifically measure.

On this Passover, the holiday of great symbols and miracles, I pray for my friend. I am eternally grateful for her friendship, and for the cross that brought her to me.