2008-12-11

Let's talk about something nice for a change. Let's talk about friends. In my life I have been blessed with a few very, very good friends. I consider them a family that I have had a chance to create on my own. If I would lose all that I possess, I would still be a very rich person. All of my friends have keys to my apartment - and I have theirs. Numerous times they jumped in when I was in trouble - financial or other; 3 in the morning, no questions asked. And I have done the same for them. I think of them as the most valuable assets in my life. We have all went through rough situations in life when we literally did not have anything to eat, nor dishes to eat from. I'll tell you just one story:

I lost my job and I was late with payments for bills and my apartment. So I decided to take a job in a different state for a few months, a state that I didn't know the language (Germany) - but it was my only way out at the time. So I barely raised money for a bus ticket. I did not have one single penny in my pocket. But that did not stop me. And there I was, all alone at the bus station, waiting for the bus to show up and at one moment I saw my best friend coming towards me. She had a very tough surgery on her back just 2 weeks earlier and she was wearing a cast from her neck to the waist. I could not believe my eyes! I was very angry at her but happy at the same time to have her by my side at that moment. So I started to shout at her: Damn girl, you should be in bed, for god sake you have a cast on and the doctors strictly told you not to move until it is removed. She just smiled, hugged me and gave me an envelope. She said that she could not let me go without any money. But I knew that she didn't have any money either - she basically gave me everything she had. But returning the money was out of the question - she didn't want to hear about it. She just said: You are going to a place where you don t know anybody. I have people around me to help me. You need that more than me. 12 years have gone by since then. We are still very close friends.

I could tell you dozens of stories about my friends. But all that it comes to is sharing a life with those around you, through the good, and the bad. If I had the whole world and no friends to share it with I would still have nothing.

So I ask you: What will your friends do for you? How far will they go? And more important, how far would you go for them?