Sometimes I wonder, Nicole, if the opposite may be true, at least for some. By this I mean that in some harsh and brutal ways Covid has forced us to wake the fuck up. That's the other end of the bell curve, of course, but those who are choosing to see the inequities, the bullshit, the insanity, for us it's a gift. A tough one, like tough love, for it's like finally receiving a diagnosis about life and friendship that just fucking SUCKS. But thank god you now have it, because now we can see what fucking sucks. That's to your point. Covid made that clear. In a billion ways it's a gift but you have to be wise enough to see it that way.

You are going to have to deal with just a few true and deep friends, I suspect, because you are too fierce otherwise. My friends are equally fierce in their own ways, and none of them are frightened or put off by my fierceness.

My guess is that when folks take out their shit on us it's because they know we can take it. Nothing kind about it, NC, but the truth is that we CAN take it.