She grabbed the dishcloth and started washing my dishes.

Without asking if she could do them, without waiting to be asked, without questioning why yesterday’s dishes were still in the sink . . .

She grabbed the dishcloth and started washing my dishes.

You see, just a few hours before this, she was on one end of the phone and I was on the other. She was folding up her laundry as she listened to me vent, cry, laugh, and talk about how lately my shoulders are feeling a little bit more weighed down than normal.

As hard as it was to admit I was having a hard day, by the time I got off of that phone call with her—

My shoulders already felt lighter.

RELATED: If You Want Good Friends, You Have To Be One First

(Sidenote: that’s how you know you have the good stuff in friendship—when they make your shoulders lighter and not heavier. Tuck that life tip into your back pocket, OK?)

And then, shortly after we hung up from that phone call, she showed up and washed my dishes.

Just because she knew it would be one less thing that I had to do.

We tend to make friendship more complicated than it has to be, when really all it needs is one heart willing to be vulnerable and the other heart willing to listen.

And then those hearts changing roles, depending on the day and the heart that needs help.

Oh, and maybe it needs a dishcloth, too.

You know. Just for good measure.

Originally published on the author’s Facebook page.