I finally stepped out of the SkyTrain after the long journey from Santa Fe. I walked over the Grandview Cut and all all my pores opened wide , my lungs filling with moist forest air. After five months in the desert I felt like a parched epiphyte coming home.

I am in Vancouver for a week, to visit my dear friend Robin Wheeler. Robin is in hospital with pancreatic cancer, and the time for visiting is now.

It is hard to imagine a world without Robin in it, and to consider not having her constant loving, intelligent, witty presence in my life. So I want to see her while I can.

Robin is such a great example, a warrior who has put out so much so joyfully for so long. It is reassuring to see how her community gathers around her in her time of need. Also it feels important for me, to be fully present to this experience of the first of my close friends of my own generation passing on. She won’t be the last, and as the mantra goes: it is good practice.