Five minutes

Tuna aka Dipunkar Pal stopped me today as I was on my way to a meeting tonight. I said I could not stop I would be late but he said "Just five minutes." He wanted to have dinner and he did not want to have dinner alone. Tuna has many friends, tea companions, and dinner partners. He has been a friend of the WMF community for countless years. He has his favorites...Jared and Josh and Chris (he prefers male friends i think) but He remembers all who visit. He still talks about David Chronic as his goatee. He is a gentle artistic soul and I love him a lot.

So I stopped and said okay five minutes knowing that there is no such thing as "five minutes". We went to Khalsa a favorite Sudder Street dive with tasty food. i had tea and tuna had dinner. He hurried because i had told him i only had short time. But i wish, my first response had been "okay, sure", so that he would not have hurried. It was more than worthwhile twenty minutes of my day shared with a friend who did not want to eat alone. I was late to my meeting but it did not really matter...they waited and understood.

It is good to be reminded that sometimes it is all about those "five minutes" of being present to a friend. Being "with" as opposed to hurrying to what is next on the list. "Five minutes" means more than the time I gave, it means I love you and you, a child of the Most High, are always more important than the task.

So today I am thankful for "five minutes" and thankful to acknowledge that those were probably the most important minutes of my day. Thanks for dinner Tuna, anytime!