Whenever I need to ponder how different women are from men I think of the Good Witches. Maria and her friends Mandy and Athena started having lunch once a week about five years ago, and they still meet every week, barring emergencies or work issues.

They have forged a great bond of trust and community, and whenever I pass by and see them sitting out in front of the Round House Cafe, where they meet regularly, I think I see some white light and powerful energy floating above them.

They know one another so well know, are so accepting of each other. Maria looks forward to her lunch every Friday, and I often think that in the years I have lived here, I have never seen a group of men gather together in that way just to talk and share their lives.

In times of trouble, they message or text one another, and everybody comes running. But those occasions are rare, the group has natural and effective boundaries, they do not get lost in one another’s lives.

They rarely speak on the phone, sometimes go to concerts together, accompany one another to lawyer’s or doctor’s offices if necessary but otherwise have distinct and separate lives.

Once in a great while, they will meet in one another’s home, but that is the exception, not the rule. I think of these three women of being very different in many ways, yet they have found a powerful common ground.

Am I wrong, or is this something some women are able to do, but very few men?

I used to envy this ability to form friendships and keep them, but I understand now that this is not really in my nature, and it isn’t because I’m a man. It’s because it’s not natural to me to trust people so comfortably and for so long.

Like Maria, I am essentially a loner and have come to understand and accept that. Unlike Maria,  it is still difficult for me to open up to people in the way that she can when she chooses.

It is inspiring and uplifting to see the good witches in their usual spot in warm weather. They have found a fixed and grounding point in a moving and difficult universe. I have no idea what they talk about, except for an odd bit here and there of interest, and have not and will not ever be invited to sit in for lunch.

It would be a heresy to do that for some reason, and I wouldn’t really want to. The good witches have created a valuable and lasting ritual of human trust, love, and connection, and it is a pleasure just to drive by once in a while and see the light.

Good for them.