Liza runs down rocky trails with her arms outstretched like a forest elf. She takes it all in. She runs into the cold Atlantic with the same zeal. She’s mostly smiling. And it is contagious.

We met on an all girl group trail run in Cape Town. I was a visitor eager to find some trail companions. I invited anyone willing to dinner after the trail run. Liza and one other, a local physical therapist joined me.

Three strangers at a table talking about everything over pizza while the crazy cape winds raged all around us. Our stories spilled from us like confessions but with out the shame or guilt. We had so much in common in our struggles.

Liza had finalized her divorce yesterday. She’d take a sabbatical from her architecture career to go to Europe to "‘let the waves of this experience hit her’ as she put it. She wanted to feel it all and go through it. Her boss apparently thought it was a crazy coping strategy.

On my last night in Cape Town, Liza and I went to this lesser known beach with incredible boulders. We talked little. We watched the sunset. We both snapped photos of each other. Everyone else watching the sunset was prepared with picnics and wine and blankets. We just had ourselves and a camera. And laughter. And a newfound sisterhood.