SFTR: Dinner With a Stranger

In the current chapter of my life—basically quitting The Comfort Zone on every front—I’ve needed people and connection more than ever.

“We’re home! Come play pickleball with us!”

You might guess this message came from a longtime friend excited to catch up with me during a quick stay in Utah. But nope. It came from a friend I made February 2023 in Athens, Greece. She’s stayed in touch with me, I’ve stayed in touch with her; that’s how this whole friendship thing goes.

We may seem like an unlikely pair of friends, with seemingly the only thing in common being our religion (we met at church in Greece). Wynette and her husband are retired, their children are all grown, and they’ve lived for decades in a small farming town.

But she feels like a kindred friend, for the following reasons:

• She has a mutual interest in being friends and staying in touch. She had, or made, room in the inn—so to speak—for friendship.

• She’s funny. I’ll do almost anything for and with a funny person. She’s also kind and blunt and uniquely herself and loads of other good things.

• We met on an adventure. She and her husband were volunteering with our …