I was given one of those invaluable presents one Tuesday morning. A special friend from Saudi Arabia came for a visit. It was a wonderful surprise and I didn’t quite know how much I’ve missed her until she was right there giving me hug. The funny thing was, she’s right there at the entrance of the building and the guard was asking who she was and her purpose of visit and I heard her voice and called her name and she just came right in and we hugged and the guard was left, well, speechless! For there was I, acting like a child who lost and found a long lost buddy!
She’d been in Saudi for over a year and came back home to go up the stage and get her masteral diploma from the University of he Philippines. She looked great. Her hair is longer and she still has that girl-woman body I always envy. How could somebody her age keep that model-thin body I can’t imagine! Just where in the world does she keep all those calories she’s consuming! And as always she’s lugging those big bags she always seem to carry but now instead of the books she can’t do without she’s brought chocolates and other goodies for her friends.
Her coming over and regaling me with her adventures and misadventures in teaching multinational teenagers was great but greater still is the gift of her conversation. She casually shared with me her very challenging job in Saudi trying to teach literature to students of different nationalities. Although she would admit that teaching abroad is much more difficult than her job teaching college students here I could see that she’s quite excited about this job.
She kept peppering our conversation with statements like how nice it was to work here. The simple pleasures, like to be able to dress the way we want, lunches with friends when we want to catch up on things, dropping by the mall on our way home were lovely things she could no longer do in Saudi.
When she said her good bye I was left with a wonderful feeling. A feeling of gratitude for this friend who made me feel that the life I have back here is a life worth feeling good about. She gave me something no amount of money could buy. She let me appreciate what freedom really is all about. She left me with a heart overflowing with thankfulness for the family I have, the job that I love and inspires me and for all the things that I care about.
Thank you, my dear friend. I’ll cherish that day for always and I’ll cherish you for being an angel that day.
