Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Regina and Erica
Lately, I have found myself killing one task after another that I feel more like a machine than a human being. It is quite sick how sometimes I define my day's success by how many tasks I have ticked off my list.
A few months ago, these peak moments at work would have easily made me push down connecting with friends to the bottom of my priority list. Ironically though, whenever I have completed part of my responsibilities, I hardly felt content or success. More often than not, I felt the need to once again create meaningful experiences with people expecting that they would oblige to my requests as if they were puppets I can control.
But people are not puppets. They cannot be pushed or pulled at my will. People are capable of controlling their own movements, their own thoughts, their speech. People are always given a choice -- especially with the kind of relationships they keep.
Why Regina chose to keep our friendship is a question only she can answer. But I am grateful she did because there would have been so much missing in my life if she gave up on me.
Regina is my oldest friend. We were classmates in preparatory school and as any two 6-year olds, our friendship was pretty, um, shallow. :) The only thing we had in common was the bus we rode home from school. Until one sunny afternoon, a bee came in our bus and we "protected" each other from its nasty sting. From that day onward, our friendship was sealed.
Between now and 1986, a lot of things have happened -- different cliques, transfering to different high schools, my mom's death, changing majors in college, relationships lost, first jobs, SFC, weight gained and lost, pimples popping and disappearing, houses moved, visa issues -- and yet, our friendship has never really changed. It has evolved, yes. But the core, the feeling of comfort, the trust and the belief in our friendship has remained.
Scientifically, it could be inferred that because we protected each other from that horrible bee, we have imprinted in our unconscious that we can count on each other for anything. Figuratively, what exists between us is like a magical meeting of two souls bound for a lifelong friendship. Practically though, we just click. :)
Over the last 14 years, Regina and I have only seen each other ONCE. But, when crisis strikes, guess who I would call? Guess who would SMS each other though it costs money just to say "Good Morning"? Guess who would send one line emails just to check on each other? Guess who would encourage each other in the toughest of times? Guess? :)
Regina is really special to me. In times when life seems so mobile and friendships so temporary, she provides me with stability. I have grown up, knowing that I have at least one true friend and I will grow old, knowing the same thing.
To Regina, thank you so much for being you. Writing what your friendship means to me seems rather silly. No amount of words can ever capture how you have made me believe in things that sometimes only seemed possible in American sitcoms. :)
You and I. Me and you. Regina and Erica. Erica and Regina. Two lives, one gift -- a beautiful friendship. :)
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Thanks to Ritva and Vallu for hosting me and putting up with my late-night blogging. :) Thanks to Kevin as well. :) Kiitos paljon!
4 comments:
Dude(tte)!
Are you coaching Saimaa?!? That's so cool!
One thing that struck me is that we spent one year pretty closely together and you never talked about your old friends from back home. Or maybe it was the other way around... we never asked. Weird, maybe we were so carried away with the work and all that we never stopped and thought that having a personal history means something more than just a few big bumbs (crisis) on the road. Maybe we were too busy "having you as part of the team", that we forgot that you had come to Finland from another country... from a reality that is important for you. Maybe we never appreciated that enough. Shite! We should have had at least one Philippino evening... Make sure you'll arrange it with your new team!
Now that I'm abroad, I'd love to tell people everything about my country, the habits, the people, the nature, the language, everything about Finland. But I've heard it already too many times: "Here he goes again, blabbering about Finland." So I've grown to be a bit cautious with that topic. Was it the same to you or what's your analysis?
Woah,
I'm confused...
Hello Tomi.
I was a special guest of Saimaa.
Yeah, well now you know more of me. :) So no time was wasted.
Cheers,
Erica
I hear some rumours that we are really going to have Philippino Evening and also Indian Evening with Bollywood movies. Should we have then Finnish Evening with sauna, perunasalaatti and Matti-movie all over again...Hehehee
-Jani
The rumor is true Jani but NO PERUNASAALATI and MATTI please... :-P
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