I long ago abandoned Google's Orkut after having been an early member. Occasionally I still get "friend" requests from people I dont know, mainly Brazilians. I always say Yes because...well, why not?

About a year ago I accepted a request from a random Brazilian woman named Nancy. Soon after that she started emailing me (and her 300 other contacts) these random little messages, mostly what could be called life-advice. Stuff like:

It depends us! Education , Experience and memories are the three things , no one can take away from you . then , Things are as they are , it is you who label them as beautiful or ugly ..

Since I had called her a friend, she was able to email these little missives directly into my inbox. At first I was getting maybe one or two a week and I started to consider whether perhaps I should un-friend this woman. But, I came to start liking their quirky style, their simple platitude like nature as well as the gross grammatical errors and misspelling which make it clear she is putting these together herself. Here are some more of her happiness koans:

Happiness is a state of mind and can be achieved by cultivating the mind and not by possessing materials...

and, an untypically longer one:

"We all want to fall in love. Why? Because that experience makes us feel completely alive. Where every sense is heightened, every emotion is magnified, our everyday reality is shattered and we are flying into the heavens. It may only last a moment, an hour, an afternoon. But that doesn't diminish its value. Because we are left with memories that we treasure for the rest of our lives."

True friends are hard to find, difficult to leave, and impossible to forget.
Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow. Don't walk behind me, I may not lead. Just walk beside me and be my friend..
its a gift for me

Anyways, recently I realized that I had not received anything from Nancy since January. Perhaps she had wandered off, i thought, found some new forum to disperse her messages. I didnt realize I had actually started to miss her little notes and their strange little grammar. So, today, i was a bit relieved when I opened my mailbox and read this message, from a familiar sender:

Duty makes usdo things well but love makes us do then beautiful...