Friends like these…

If you think I’m sweet, kind, wonderful and any other fancy adjectives – obviously you haven’t met my friends… My friends have special powers … how? You may ask. That’s because each one of them were handpicked by God to make MY life such a comfortable, wild, blessed and interesting experience.

 

I have friends from different walks of life (even though I’d like to have friends from all walks of life one day). I remember when I was young, (13 actually) my mom set me up with penpals from different parts of the world – but naughty me screwed up those penpal relationships – Hawema! Yes, I was so mischievous as a child (and I still am, sometimes)… so basically, these penpals were from 1^st world countries: America, Spain etc… and this is how I screwed up: we used to send each other letters and just think what a 13 year old (back in our days) would talk about: family, pets, favourite colours etc… so, one of my pen-pal had a pet-dog and she’ll ask me if kids in Africa also had pets. So, I responded something like (I’m paraphrasing from memory, its not exact): Dogs are nothing in Africa, here, I have a pet-crocodile that stays in our pool and we don’t really have cats, but we have lions and tigers – when they die, we use their skin to cover ourselves as clothing… (yes! I am part of the reason why people from the 1^st world country think that we have elephants in our airport runways – I’m sorry, I was stupid and mischievous). Yes, I lied – and my mum hates lies… she was also very protective over me, and she used to open some of my stuffL. And she opened this letter from my pen-pal in response to my “pets”. I don’t remember much of the letter because my mom was so woedend (furious in Afrikaans) that she stopped all sort of communications between me and my penpals – she didn’t even give me money to buy those airmail stamps – and she warned me that I was never allowed ANYwhere near the post office… Ja neh, that was the end of it… and the end of my communication with global peeps… well, we didn’t have FaceBook and stuff…

 

Fastforward >>> 2009: obviously I’ve grown up and I’m mature (I bluff myself with this adjective all the time *tee-hee*). So, through life I’ve met friends through school, university, work, social circles, flatmates, friends of friends, friends of friends of friends of friends… you know how it goes >>> basically, I met friends in my journey of life through different means and methods. E.g.: I belong to this email group called politicalislam and I met friends through there; I belonged to a Halaqa (religious study circle) group and met friends there etc etc… Ya’ll know what I’m getting at.

 

There’s some of this saying I got via e-mail that says something to the effect of “true friends do not say sorry or thank you” <<< personally, I disagree… a friend needs to feel appreciated. I don’t see anything wrong with dropping a friend an SMS (or flowers, or biltong for me) to say thanks for being a ray of sunshine in my life or whatever.

 

I’m not sure whether saying that my friends were handpicked by God is a form of Shirk (polytheism – please correct me if I’m wrong). But I know for sure that when I met/was introduced to my friends, it was our souls that met – our souls were re-united, and they welcomed me into their homes, their wardrobes, their families and into their fridges

 

My friends have different roles in my life, just like how I have a different role in their lives. There are those friends who remind you how important education is, some who remind me how important family is, some who remind me how important it is to smile, some who remind me how important it is to cover up (modesty), and some who make it seem OK for me not to pay my TV Licence. Likewise, for different friends I play different roles: to some I’m that nagging conscience which reminds them to make peace with whomever, to some I’m the entertainer, to some the one who bakes muffins etc… I guess what I’m trying to get at is: having a good and solid structure of friends. Think of them as a house – in a solid house you need windows, a roof, doors, a wall, furniture, food etc – and that’s exactly what my friends are: blankets – keep me warm, windows – shield me from nasty storms of life, doors – lock away troubles… and so much more >>> these are the metaphors on top of mind as I’m typing this. And for me, it’s important that I allow these friends to play these different roles – I can’t expect a blanket to do the job of a door: I’ve got to allow myself to be entertained by some and mothered by others – I’ve got to appreciate what Allah has handpicked for me.

 

No, it’s not friendship day or anything, but this blog was inspired by a problem which I’m having with a potential stalker. Yes, Allah is the best of protectors, but in my most vulnerable, in my most weakest (no no, most weakest is not a typing error) and in my lowest and most depressive state, He shows me what a support structure that I have. My friends feel violent on my behalf; they responded to the perpetrator on my behalf, they traveled a few kilometers just to give me a hug. I’m not gonna go into the details of what I’m going through on this blog as this is solely for my friends. No, when days are dark, friends are many – they come in their droves. Those who are a thousand miles have made calls on my behalf so that I can get security/bouncers to protect me – there’s so much more. No, I am not mentioning names because I’ll be putting their lives at risk… but one thing’s for sure, I know that I have pillows and pillows of support from my friends – when someone drops me or pushes me, these pillows (or trampolines) will be always there for me to bounce off and be my normal self again. Yes, Allah has me under His majestic wings, but I’m definitely grateful for the cushions in disguise of friendship.

 

Yes, throughout our lives we are ALL gonna come across nasty people who will sprinkle some drops of misery, pain and hurt into our lives – but when one has friends like mine, all they do is pour buckets of affection, support, prayer and love.

 

Thank you all – I wish there was a way in which I could show my appreciation. Yes, Allah loves you and only He knows how much I value you. I may not be able to show it in terms of affection, nor may I be able to say it in words – but He knows that you are all much more significant in my life than you think you are. Yes, I’m talking about YOU YOU and YOU – yes, you making wudhu, yeah yeah – even you walking up that stairs… oh yeah, and you taking that snooze (wake up and read my blog) and even you that’s breastfeeding that child… yes, even you that’s busy stroking that beard… oh well, I’m talking about ALL of you…

 

And I’d like to dedicate this song to you:  http://music.yeucahat.com/song/English/19194-Will-You-Be-There~Michael-Jackson.html

 

Mwah and hugs to all the ladies and hi5es to all the dudes. You all rock. Yes, when you say jump, I won’t even bother asking “how high” I’ll just do it – all because you are my friends, and you’ve done so much more than I can quantify in numbers, say in words or express…

 

And oh, this is an email I got from mum this morning: “Salaams

 

Hope you are well.

I want you NOT to make any contact or entertailn any response to all the chitter chatter, for now make contact with friends the old fashioned way.

Do not be intimitated by this guy, I will get to the bottom of this

Abba and iI will now take over.

He is not answering his telephone, are there any other contact details.

 

I WILL SORT THIS CHAPPIE OUT ONCE AND FOR ALL  NOBODY CHANCES WITH MY CHICKENS.

 

LUV

MUM”

 

 

 

 

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