Sunday Sister

I was 15 or 16 when I answered the phone. An older lady was on the other end looking for my mom, but she wasn’t home. The lady told me she had an overseas student with her who was very homesick, who would like to stay with a family from the same culture, so she wanted to speak to my mom to see if we could accommodate. I cannot remember if our house was not yet set up to take in students at the time or if we already had two, coz this house was always full of people, but I remember we weren’t ready for “one more”. Actually, I think, she was the first…?

I could hear sniffling in the background. I asked who was crying and if she was okay. The lady asked me to speak to her, to calm her down. This was the start of our friendship…. :-).

She said “hello”, took a breath that ‘jumped’ like it does when we’ve been crying for a while, and sniffed. She spoke sooo softly I could barely hear her. She sounded so young - sweet and innocent – much younger than me. I pictured a 12-14 year old girl. I immediately wanted to protect her.

We spoke. I can’t remember the exchange, but I was consoling her. She kept addressing me like I was older and I let her. I felt like an adult when she gave the phone back to the lady who rang and I said we would take the girl in. I decided it, hahahah. My mom really did not have any choice. :-)

I told my mom when she got home. I don’t know what happened afterwards – adult stuff, heheheh. But we didn’t have space in the house so I shared my room with her, which I gladly offered. She arrived. Imagine my surprise when I found out she was older than me, already attending university! Yet still, very sweet, innocent and fragile.

We didn’t have much in common; I was/am very much the child in our friendship heheheh. But it was fascinating to watch her – studying hard, practicing her speeches, being an adult, living in a foreign country – inspiring! My sisters were much older than me so I didn’t really have sister interactions with them. So I watched my friend a lot when I wasn’t distracted by my childishness.

Eventually she moved out, good for her. She found more strength/courage. Also, our house was too full and my mom couldn’t cook hahahah. We managed to keep in touch and I am now a proud godmother to her daughter and I am in love with her elder son.

We didn’t know at the time that we’d stay friends, as we both “survived and experienced” our environments, and lived life in various levels of gullibility. I considered her influential in my life. I chose to be Christian when I was 9, when I attended a Christian school for 2 years. My family were not (and at the time I was studying in a strict and exclusive girls-only Catholic school run by nuns – I lasted one year heheh, then moved to a school that did not have religion in its curriculum). My friend is a devout Christian, so I went to her church with her every Sunday. She was kind to let an awkward child tag along with her :-). I needed that direction she gave me as I was still clueless on my own (I was a very late bloomer, always young-spirited), and not yet making my own life decisions. A lot of blessings that came to my life at the start of my “independence”, where somehow related to my times with her.

Almost 2 decades later, continents apart, we are still the same. I still feel impulsively protective towards her yet I still get reminded that she’s older and wiser than me :-). The times I spent with her I still find her fascinating and inspiring to watch. But this time I love not only her but her WHOLE family - hubby and 2 kids included - grateful for the times they’ve welcomed me and treated me like family. I miss them a lot, especially the kids, thankful for social networking sites for keeping us linked all these years.