Buddy story · Two years, unbroken
Four lines on a Sunday, for two years
Hannah and Maryam send each other four lines every Sunday and have not missed one, including the week Maryam was in hospital for something unrelated.
- Paired
- August 2025
- Cadence
- Sunday evenings
- Status
- ongoing
They were paired because both had said the same thing in their request note, almost word for word: that they were fine in the circles and dreadful on their own at eleven at night. Esi read the two notes an hour apart and put them together without thinking about it very hard.
The format arrived by accident in the second week. Hannah had been writing long messages and apologising for their length, so Maryam replied with exactly four lines and a full stop, and Hannah copied her. It has been four lines each ever since. How the week went. One thing that was hard. One thing that was not. Anything you want me to ask you about next Sunday.
The fourth line is the one they both point to. It means neither of them has to raise a difficult subject cold; the difficult subject was requested a week in advance by the other person, which somehow removes almost all of the weight from it.
They have never met and have never spoken on the phone. Maryam has said she would find a call harder, and Hannah has said she is relieved to hear that.
It is not therapy and it is not a friendship exactly. It is a standing appointment with somebody who already knows the background, which turns out to be the thing I could not get anywhere else.
I write mine on the bus on Sunday afternoon. Four lines. If I gave myself more room I would use it to be reassuring, and then it would be no use to either of us.