Knowing them less

Closeness and distance aren’t opposites

Photo credit: Ellen Kreuger

We were sitting on the couch when he got the notice. No cap and gown, no pomp and circumstance. Sam read the email on his phone, then heaved the weightiest sigh in the history of sighs. The quality of satisfaction and relief I heard in that sigh only comes along a few times in life, and only then if you’re lucky.

Sam had offici…