Tag: best friend

Fleeting Visits

It’s just a short visit. You catch the aroma of coffee and cake. Everything is so well-prepared and inviting that a mixture of both guilt and regret stirs inside you. “I’m just popping round – I won’t be able to stay for too long.” The instinct tells you that the generosity with which you are treated deserves much more of your time. You’d like to stay for longer but it’s not possible. The schedule, commitments, busy life. You feel embarrassed about how little time you can offer to your host so next time when invited you don’t come at all or you keep on rescheduling the visit.

Here’s the alternative. Brief visits serve their purpose. They are needed. They are meaningful. Bonds are built through them. Caring for each other is established. Just through asking a few questions. “How’s your new orchid growing?” “How are the kids doing?” These visits strengthen friendship, give rhythm to our relationships. Short duration pulses. Lifebeats.

So you didn’t stay for long? That’s okay. It’s important that you came.

“The Bride Is My Best Friend” (read the postcard)

You got yourself ready for this beautiful event and you perched quietly in a pew awaiting the bride. She is so glamorous, wonderful, wearing a glorious dress. She appears so mature and ready to take the plunge into her new life and confidently waves to her guests and sends them cheeky smiles and winks. You are smiling too, broadly, sincerely, happily… but then all of a sudden you feel this massive uncontrollable trail of tears going down your face… because you remember. … You remember her as a teenager, you remember her being strong and fragile, decisive and doubtful, sad and over the moon. In your head you go through those long private chats, the jokes that you shared, the little notes exchanged in a classroom under the table… secretly … away from the sight of the teacher. You recall the moments when things were super rough, either for you or for her and you are so grateful that in those moments you were the ‘bestest’ of friends. So you look at the bride and wipe your nose and respond to the curious look of one of the guests in a single phrase: ”The bride is my best friend” and in truth you are really the only one who understands what that signifies. The bond. The laughs. The sharing.

So your best friend is getting married. You see her blooming next to her chosen sweetheart and your heart fills up with joy and jubilation. Again, you remember what those secretly exchanged notes were about and you smile knowingly… because you realize… that a dream has just come true.

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