©2013 Nim Gholkar All Rights Reserved This is just a quick post…nothing fancy…definitely not literary material. Just a heart-felt response to what I observed.
Walking down to school this afternoon to pick up my daughter, I saw two little girls (not more than five years of age) skipping on the road and chatting with each other. Their mothers walked closely behind discussing probably the typical things mothers tend to talk about: laundry, homework, sibling quarrels, crumbling state of the universe…etc. As I watched, one little girl ran forward, tripped on a pebble and fell down. Loud tears followed. Her little friend stared wide-eyed but stood at a distance as the perturbed mother rushed forward, brushed scraped knee, wiped tears and gave a quick hug. She then fell back in step with the other mother and continued her nonchalant tales of mommy mayhem. The two little girls looked at each other. One little girl leaned forward and hugged her bruised friend, and wiped a lone tear that still lingered on the tip of her nose. This little act filled the air with cheer and goodwill, all was well with the world, and the skipping and singing resumed with much gusto.
I remembered in those few moments all my friends who have hugged me, wiped my tears, laughed with me over the years. I remembered friends who let me rave and rant and very kindly refrained from offering a solution to the problem. They recognised that I simply wanted to be heard. I remembered friends who have laughed with me about things no one else could possibly find funny….friends who have encouraged me to reach for the stars and to settle for nothing but the best….friends who have yelled at me when annoyed and listened patiently when I yelled back, only to collapse into laughter moments later and hug each other fiercely.
For a few moments, I stood and watched the two little girls skip on, holding hands….they will probably move on to different parts of the world when the grow up, form new friendships and their paths may never cross again. Every friendship we forge, however, finds a tiny, permanent resting place in our memories and our hearts. New friendships nudge at the old friendships, jostling for space…..eventually, like the perfect jigsaw puzzle, they fall into place, having made enough room for each other.