Love is a feeling that most do not want in the first place. But, when it comes and touches their soul, they wonder how they could have lived without it all this while. Friendship doesn’t mean you have to be around your friend always. It means knowing when your friend needs you the most and being there for your friend at that moment. Here’s how…

It takes a moment for a person to open up and be candid. And till that moment arrives, all efforts to wring out words will fall flat. This is exactly what happened to Rachael. Rachael has been dodging questions on whether there is a romance happening in her school. Yes, I was guilty of wanting to ask her about it as well. But, thankfully, I didn’t get the chance. And that is what prompted Rachael to share her love story with me. Rachael told me one evening when we were playing scrabble, “I’m tired of mom’s mischievous smiles and questions, you know!” I was caught off guard. I wanted to mumble a reply, but ended up making a pathetic attempt.

“I want to share something with you,” Rachael looked me in the eye. Then she went on to tell me her part of the story. Rachael does like this guy a lot because he’s not loud and boisterous. “You know, he writes poetry!” Rachael giggled. I was amused. “Have you read any of those?” I asked her with a little hesitation. I didn’t know if it was the right question to ask! “Yeah,” Rachael giggled again, “in the library. And he wanted a reward for that!” This was getting interesting. “And?” I egged on, “What did you reward him with?” Rachael smiled and looked down. I was getting a little impatient to know. Rachael kept smiling and looking down. After another couple of insistences, I followed her glance. Formed on the scrabble board was the word ‘KISS’.

True friends exist in your life as if they don’t have an existence. And, just when you think that they have forgotten you, they surface when you need them most. Steve has been extremely busy over the last couple of months. His relationship with his special friend Natalie is going great and you can hardly find him hanging around the office after work anymore. He’s generally missing when we meet up for weekends. Donna asked me the other day if we have lost out on our geek friend. And then, just when we thought we have to give up on him, he bounced back with a timely help.

Donna had to finish some projects immediately and her laptop crashed late evening. Frantic for help, Donna called Steve. “To be frank, it was with a lot of hesitation that I called him up,” Donna told me later, “but, would you believe it Bob, he was there at my place in half an hour!” As it happened, Steve fixed Donna’s laptop, which was not really tough for him. It wasn’t really the work that stood out, it was his overriding care and dedication towards his friends that touched us all. Would you believe that after doing this, he never talked about it to anyone, let alone trying to pitch himself as Mr. Dependable. That’s Steve for you, friends and that’s friendship for you.

Kate’s talkative co-worker is back in my newsletter again! You can blame me for not giving you her name yet, but the fact is that I forgot to pick it up from Kate. Anyway, the name’s not really important when you find out what she did this time around. As I told you guys earlier, this co-worker is the source of the office grapevine. Kate told me that recently this co-worker called up the boss from an unknown number. Faking that the call was from a florist, the boss was asked if he wanted to deliver some flowers to someone special. The boss took the call and gave her the name and number of his sweetheart!

This co-worker went to town with her prized information. Last heard, several people in the office knew about the hoax call. Though her colleagues did lap up the fun, they are now extremely wary of her. They have decided to keep safe distance. Kate told me that they are all waiting for the hoax call news to move along the vine and reach the boss. “She’s sure to be fired, Bob,” Kate told me, rather sadly, “and that’s not a good thing in these times.” I understand, but somehow I feel a certain amount of revulsion at what Kate’s co-worker did. Office rumor is something, but this is not really right, don’t you think so?

There are times when you feel so grateful that you find it very difficult to actually express your thankfulness. It’s true that my friends have stood by me at all times, sharing my happiness and hurt in equal measure. There’s Eleanor who’s always been there for me too. But someone deserves a more eloquent thank you for literally being there for me through these days. That’s Kong. Yes folks, he’s been my friend, my support and the reason I survived many a depressing moment.

Kong has been the most wonderful friend. He’s always waiting for me to get home. He’s been very pally with my friends, including Adrian. Eleanor’s rose garden has always been a tempting place for him to go and play, but after coming of age, he has not ventured into that territory! Despite his menacing shadow on her roses, he has always been a welcome guest at Eleanor’s home and hearth. Kong fell ill the other night and that’s when I realized that I needed to thank him for being everything that he is to me. Thank you Kong, you rock!

This week’s Zen quote is a rather interesting one! It’s by Thomas Jones: “Friends may come and go, but enemies accumulate.” Does it ring true to you?