WHO YOUR FRIENDs ARE?

Strolls & Goals

Because we have each other, hardship became bearable.

Likes & Differences…

Tell me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are… This is true and at the same time, a myth! I can vouch on this, because I have sets of friends with different traits, personalities, likes and dislikes. Though, we have some things in common as well, like… eating, pictorial, adventures, care, love and a slight of jealousy drama. And one more thing common to us? We are the number one critics and the worst bully to each other! The thing is, we did not stay in a safe zone, we argue, we disagree, and we don’t try hard to please each other, we are just who we are, but still we retain that string of friendship. Yes, some of us had already chose different paths, location, we have separate lives but you know if you already formed a bond… distance and even if you don’t communicate that often, you are always connected. We may have a new sets of peers but that space in our hearts are still theirs. Other kind of relationships may break and fall apart, but true friendships, remains. They are already our extended family actually.

Blessings…

Strangers are everyday in our lives, and having that once-upon-a-time strangers be part of our routine that’s how we’re starting to form a relationship. So, it is really a huge blessing to find true sets of friends, specially when you are away from home. True indeed that home and family is irreplaceable but friends around can wipe-out those homesickness that you might be feeling. They are those people who would cheer you up, make you fight loneliness, give you confidence and would accept you and support you, they just don’t kick you out from the circles just because you are different. And, I am happy and thankful to have these kind of friends. They might be few in numbers, not even a 10% of my FB friends, but they are more than enough. I am not saying that I am closing my door to those who are still on their way of crossing my path, because I am open to new friends.

Let the new one comes… and let me share to you first the stories of friendships we have now, actually when I am describing traits and activities, I am not referring to an individual but to us, including me. To find a group that has the same trip and craziness with you, is a jackpot! Life can never be boring.

The Escape…

When the weekend or a vacation comes and the outdoor is calling… the girls are out and ready for a photo shoot. While 6-days or 5-days a week we are working our ass off, we deserve a weekend break, somewhere away from our hub. Okay, most of my friends are “practical”. Our term for “kuripot” or “thrifty in English” ?. And… scared of summer sunlight. So a weekend breakaway it’s not really every weekend, not even every month. Well, 3-4x a year. And to my miles away friends, we make sure that every time I’m in a vacation – home, we re-unite and escape to relaxing places. And to those who are on the other side of the world, we are updating from time to time, when resources and time allows we will have our reunion too. This is it, it’s not the amount or numbers but the quality of time spent, right?

Support System…

I sometimes get emotional when I watched movies about friendships. I don’t know, maybe because when I left home at the age of 16 to pursue college, I did not able to find peers, immediately. I became aloft being out from my comfort zone for the first time. I became a loner, I just have my cousins. At school it was me and my books and the bench. It took a while before I can say, I have friends. When I started staying in a dormitory, finding friends was easier. That’s also the same thing when I became an expat in the Middle East. We ate together, went to work together, did the grocery, shopping and laundry together. And luckily, they are those people who I always wanted to be my peers. Effortless, we jibed. Honestly, being guilty here, they took care of me, more than I did to them. My friends are the best counselor, parent/adviser… plus travel buddy and lender.

Overall…

I once ask this, what have I done to deserve these people? They are great, anyone will be lucky to have them, and I am truly blessed. As my first sentence on this post said, hardship became bearable. There is no different ways that I will survive all those loneliness and failures, they were there, when I had needed space, they called NASA to hire me, joke! But they just there observing, and they let me be, but they did not leave and when they feel that I already had enough space, they raided me. So what other description else to this gift… #grateful!