A Gentle and Quiet Spirit

MY DEAR FRIEND….

My friend went overseas for 9 months and I really missed her so, so much. Then one day I found this comment on my blog which was from her while she was away.

Anonymous said…
Ja - it sounds like you're leaving forever. *Nou weet jy hoe het ek gevoel toe ek vir jou moes koebaai se.

**Mis jou en Lief jou en this blog is just what i needed to stay in touch.

Lief jou
Reta

I know she was terribly homesick while she was there and I really missed her very much. The important thing is she is back – and I didn’t even know she was back until she came walking into my office the other day. I was so thrilled to see her, it was just what the doctor ordered. I cannot remember when last I was so happy to see someone.

There is no-one here at work that laughs with me the way she did – we were always in fits of giggles about lifts, robots, bubblegum, tekkies, flats and so much more. And she hadn’t been in my office for 5 minutes and we were peeing ourselves laughing again.

If your are British you will know what a Lift and a Flat is. A lift is an Elevator and a Flat is an Apartment. Robots are traffic lights, bubblegum is chewing gum and tekkies are sneakers – and we would laugh cause we imagined living abroad and being late for work one day and telling your boss the following: “Ja, my key got stuck in my Flat door and then I got Bubblegum on my Tekkie in the Lift and I was stopped by a broken Robot on the road…” And then we would laugh because the boss would not have a clue what you were on about.

You had to be there....

And every afternoon we would have tea at 4:00 pm in the kitchen. I can make a killer cup of tea - or "life saving tea" as she calls it.

She is a ray of sunshine who came into my life at a time when I really needed a friend like her. I had just found out sad news about my brother's baby and shortly after that my younger sister went through a huge crisis - two in fact and a very dear family friend passed away all around the time Reta came into my life. She was just there for me in a way no-one else could be at that time and she still brings sunshine into my life. When I had to give my Kitty away - she cried with me too. And when I almost lost my dad in the beginning of the year - she was the one I turned to. Even though she was far away and all I could do was e-mail her, she was again there for me. We have laughed together and cried together and she is very special to me.

We have the kind of bond that will survive distance, heartache and differences - no matter what we are experiencing or who we are at any given time, one thing remains constant, and that is our friendship.

Love you too Reta

*"Now you know how I felt when I had to say goodbye to you ".
**"Miss you and love you and…"