Tonight I came across a YouTube phenomenon not much talked about. It’s the millions of videos uploaded to the platform and *not* picked up by trizillions of viewers but viewed by what looked like a pretty small but dedicated group of followers. In the case of Shawnee Kilgore’s “Company of Friends” that group tonight had just past 30. Not 30 thousand or 30 million. Just 30.

I found that video because I was googling for ‘company of friends’, something that has shaped and influenced my life, even more so in the past years. I googled ‘company of friends’ because lately I just felt that this, the ‘company of friends’, has been my lifesaver.

Over the past couple of weeks, friends and neighbours, companions, have come to the rescue by visiting us, staying with Pádraig, and bringing in the nicest food you’ve ever tasted in your life. It was like a journey through some of Dublin’s most exquisite kitchens: fresh vegetables, grains, pies, tarts, cakes, buns, bread… you name it!

What a change from earlier days when it wasn’t food, but holy items from all sorts of different backgrounds, religions, and beliefs who were just brought in to be touched, left on loan, or given as generous presents. They were meant to prevent the worst and bring Pádraig and all of us healing.

We have come a long way. And yet, we’ve only just begun!