Arco-Contrafforte.

I realize my last entry was all about Paris, but today I'm feeling... un poco Italiano. I find myself thinking of my darling friends from grade school and high school, now clustered about Atlanta, or dipping in for quick holiday hellos before zipping off to all corners of the world.

These friends are my flying buttresses, i miei archi-contrafforti.

Flying buttresses, which became popular in Gothic architecture, support the load-bearing walls of magnificent Cathedrals, allowing for larger windows and wider roofs. The advent of the flying buttresses saw the transformation of prayer spaces, before so shadowed and dark, now illuminated with the radiance of magnificent rose windows, drawing the sinner's eyes from the dankness of internalized preoccupation to the elevated, dazzling light.

Just so, dear friends don't need to be forever pressed at your side. They can have their foundations far from your own. But the winged support they send you from time to time can uphold your heavy walls, so that from within, your soul can breathe with new space, new light, new optimism.

Have a friend who is far from where you are? Send them a letter, or an e-mail, or a happy thought. Sei un arco-contrafforte, anche.

photo: Flying Buttresses in Milano and Strausburg.