I see Denise as a reflection of me – she sees through similar lenses and has suffered heartful heartache – just like I have. I think when life bitterly disappointed you, you learn to love all the little gifts it offers, as if trying to hold onto the unraveling of a dream as it dissipates.And so…she understands me. We met 8 years ago when we started working on a student publication project. Since then we have only grown together and into each other. She makes me feel so completely myself. I can be complexly and completely me – I don’t even have to dim who I am or not be real. 
When I’m sad I’m sad, when I’m happy I’m ecstatic – she makes me laugh out loud and we have gotten to the point where in our relationship there is such a comfortable intimacy where there is the complete understanding in that the one does not go without the other. We are intimate – an intimacy we cannot find from the men in our lives – there is a wholeness in our relationship. I look for her at work and keep her half of my lunch – she makes me want to feed and sustain her both physically and emotionally –
just as she does for me. She is the sister I would pick for myself …
Hotnotsmeid 