My Magic Beans

Courtesy: contrarymom.files.wordpress.com

”Amma, I don’t have any friends in class… what do I do?”, I remember asking my mom when I was in kindergarten.

“Friends?!? You will get plenty of them my dear, don't worry…”, my mother consoled me with a smile.

Back then, I didn't know how she knew it; I believed her, nevertheless. And it came true...

When I look back, I am grateful that I had friends at every phase of my life. A recent forward that came on my phone beautifully expressed how God gives us different kinds of friends. Whether they come for a moment or for long walk in your life, they all enter your life for a certain purpose. When you look at all your friends through that lens, all of them seem so special.

When I turn the pages of my childhood, I remember two gifts given to me with great care. One was the dial of a broken watch and another a broken piece of a glass bangle, wrapped in a torn piece of ruled notebook paper. The excitement with which I took that home is an evidence of the sacrifice my childhood friend made when she gifted it to me. That episode of my life has never failed to make me smile.

I am thankful for the naughty bunch I was part of in high school. I believe the innocent pranks we played, especially the crank calls, have added much to the creative side of my brain. I always think of that bunch with so much of warmth. Today we are all not much in touch. But they will always be there in a very cozy corner of my heart.

At this juncture, when I am walking over troubled waters, I am so touched and feel extremely special that I have so many people. The dimensions that friendship holds seem endless.

A friend can be a parent who hugs you and says I am there for you. I will not let anybody force anything on you. In those words and in those eyes I saw how valuable I am. It had the courage and the resolve to stand by me, no matter what! Parents who keep repeating relentlessly that this is a phase and that this too shall pass. Parents who say I don't care what society has to say – you are what matters most.

A friend can be someone whom you haven’t called and talked to in years; someone with whom you have had issues with, in the past; yet don't mind lending a helping hand when you decide to ask for help.

A friend is that extremely courageous one who takes up the initiative to be even talking neutrally on your behalf when she lives among people you oppose.

Friends can appear as lost strength patting you and reminding you to be strong and do what you have to – making you believe that you have the right to certain things and a right to happiness.

Friends remind you that respect is but a two-way bridge that cracks when misunderstood to be one-way. A friend is someone who says she can't speak at that moment 'coz she may wake the kids but insists that you chat - just for you.

When you seem at the end of all hope and stop praying because you know not what to pray for, only a friend can tell you - I am there to pray, you concentrate on healing. "I am praying for the best and the best may not fit the description we have for it today", she said. Friendship can leave you amazed when you hear and see your friend feeling the way you feel, thinking the way you think; taking the effort to think for you because you would have lost the capacity to do so. A friend can make you feel worthy by telling you that you need to move on because anymore she can't recognize your voice. It's a great source of respite to hear, “I need to hear and see you the way I know you.”

A friend can retrospect for you, forecast for you and be your solace in the present state of affairs. She can remind you of things you may have overlooked and things you may regret later.

I am privileged to have a friend with whom I may have just spent probably only a few hours with, face to face. Yes, we did strike a chord. But to have that going even when I was out of the system I knew her from. The encouragement that comes that way startles me.

Friends offer to spend the night with you when you are dealing with bad news or because you have had a rough day or simply as a God sent reminder that you are fun to be with. Friends can offer to go to the movies with you just because you haven't seen one in ages.

Friends can be siblings who tell you that you are special; who surprise you with your first valentine's gift ever. Siblings who have confidence in you and make you realize that your opinion matters; that you can be their voice when they can't speak out. Siblings who come to you for advise even when you feel you are a failure.

Friends can be long gone from the face of this earth but yet manage to make you laugh when you think of the joyful times you have spent with them.

A friend can even be a TV sitcom that you are certain can lift your spirits, make you laugh or take you away to some other realm on a weary day. I was watching one of the very early episodes of F.R.I.E.N.D.S the other day. It touched my heart when Rachel says about her friends, "I've got magic beans". 

Whatever I have today or I don't, in whichever state I am in, I feel blessed and extremely rich when it comes to the many friends I have. They are such a treasure! It is on purpose that I haven't taken names in this post. I am sure when each of them reads this; they will know which part of it is dedicated to them. The instances quoted here are just a few compared to the very many things friends have bought my way. This comes to say how much you all mean to me. Each of you are and will always be extremely precious - thank you ever so much for being my magic beans!