Friends / Amigos

I got to thinking about friends today ... what makes a good friend, who are my good friends, and why ?

I am not one to have many friends, mind you.
Somehow I do not attract that many people into my life, partly because I love to be alone (and it shows), and also because I am not one to strike up a conversation first.
I do not have the come-talk-to-me-I'm-nice vibes.

But I'm not without friends either.
The few I have are like gems I guard close to my heart.
Most of them I feel I have had all my life, they have been with me through first loves, secrets and growing pains.
Others I have met later in life and despite our different backgrounds, languages, religions, etc, we formed a kinship, a friendship that has marked me to this day.

Sadly, some of them, like Shirin, are no longer in my close circle, maybe the same things that drew us together pushed us apart ... I'll never know.

What triggered my thinking about friends was a call I made recently to MBV, my childhood friend whose birthday I always confuse with GA's (and missed again).
We barely speak and seldom communicate via email either, however, our friendship is as fresh as if we were neighbors.
I love that about my friends, no matter how far apart we are or how long ago we saw each other, we are close at heart.
It gives me that warm fuzzy feeling.

So I dedicate this blog to my friends, few in number, large in meaning:

To my friend MBV.
Thank you for your resounding laughter that echoes through my spirit long after we hang up, the delicious cuscus you always make when I come visit, sprinkled not only with sugar but with that special ingredient that only friends can concoct.

To my friend PV.
Thank you for your beautiful poems, your spontaneity, your feelings "a flor da pele".

To my friend MMMR.
Thank you for your wit, your child-like laughter, your trust in me to be your youngest son's fairy-godmother (not the one that has to go to the church), although I have never met the now 7 year-old cute boy.

To my friend J.
Thank you for being you, like a sister, throughout these years. For rubbing my feet. For reaching out to me in moments of joy and moments of pain.

To my friend C.
Thank you for trusting me long ago with your most precious secret. For the poems you wrote then that captured my essence so well.

To my friend R.
My Triton merman. My sea-mate. Where are you ? I miss you ...bad !!

To my friend LT.
I'll never forget 40th day postpartum herbal bath you prepared for me and the warm chocolate that you tucked me in with. Thank you for trusting me.

To my friend ECM.
Thank you for your no non-sense Queen of the World attitude. Your self-confidence is contagious.

To my friend CM.
I haven't seen you in close to 25 years since you went to Portugal to study but you are present in my mind. I remember us whistling together at seminario while you created magic tunes with your violon.

To my friend GA.
You too I haven't seen in 23 years ! Thank you for the bolos borrachos, your sweetness inside and outside, always. Congratulations on your new baby girl !