This post is in honour of my dear friend who I don’t think will be happy I published her name (No, I’m not making this up to cover for personal stories!). Now for my “other friends” who have been with me for the past few years and are still ‘loyal’, by the time I start talking they would definitely know who this is.
My friend and I have been together since our university days, and I find it ironic that despite our busy schedules we suddenly seem to have more good memories to share together (I mean just the two of us) than when we had all the time in the world. Don’t get me wrong, we have done some really crazy things, like painting our faces black and white in the middle of the night to pose as cultists in our 100 level in the name of publicity of the gospel (don’t ask), and tying ‘gele’ with jeans to a Chapel service! But that was a really long time ago before we had our dignities to protect and the rest of our lives to think about…
In honour of those ‘memorable’ moments, my friend and I have become close over the years. We are the perfect example of Ying and Yang in appearance, she’s fair and ’round’ and not so tall, I am… c’mon, you all know what I look like!
Before I go on and on and you get bored let me cut to the chase. She called me sometime last month, saying that there was a film festival on the Island that we should go and check it out. Bored out of my mind and thinking that this would be one of our rare yet ‘memorable hangouts’, I went to meet her up.
Being a punctual person, she got to the festival before the guests arrived and decided it wasn’t worth her time. She ‘warned’ me before I got there and suggested we go see a movie. By the time I got to the cinema, she got a call that there was going to be a film shooting at the festival that we should come. By stroke of luck we both decided not to drive and it was raining; so we told the taxi to come back in an hour.
The movie festival was so boring it could make even dogs sleep! As punishment, I made her take me to Chocolate Royale for making me miss a good movie. After we had placed our order, we were told that we couldn’t take it upstairs for us to eat because we bought it downstairs! And the provision of chairs was outside and did I mention that it was raining?
We couldn’t leave because the taxi who was meant to come back for us was at the time on the 3rd mainland bridge, so we sat in the lobby and had our chocolate cake. Before we could down our hot cocoa to the last drop, we decided- actually my friend decided that we should hit the road, since the cab was nowhere in sight.
Strolling down the street looking for a cab, I realised that the streets were actually well lit and the weather was not so cold anymore. I no longer noticed the drizzle, or the fact that we might be stranded as there were no cabs in sight, but noticed the light rays dancing in my friend’s eyes and was serenaded by the duet of our laughter.In those few minutes, I was taken back to university days, when we had no cares whatsoever and did exactly as we pleased…when friendships were our treasures and money and planning were distant dreams. In the dim mix of moon and streetlights, we took pictures in the rain and decided to ‘walk the mile’ down to the junction and would have kept walking, enjoying nothing but the pleasure of each other’s company. It was as if time had stopped, only to be jolted back to reality by blaring horns of passing cabs which we really needed at the time!
The joy of old friends is priceless, timeless, and meant to be treasured for all time. I am lucky to be blessed with friends who make mountains seem like mole hills and valleys look like depths of endless treasure. It is because of the friends that I have come this far, the writer who said “show me your friends and i’ll show you who you are” was not lying! Because for every challenge that I have had in life and prayed to God for help, he always sent a friend.
No man is an island, even for those who say they ‘trust no one’ need the man who fixes their car, or the woman from whom they buy food in the market and even the policeman who directs traffic- and collects bribes. Imagine the world without husbands, fathers, mothers, or wives, these are my friends, for without them I would not be. And to the greatest friend of all, whose friendship has changed my life and will eventually transfigure me and take me to a world of eternal bliss where I will be with him forever, I am most eternally grateful for the opportunity of knowing him.