The Importance Of Being There

Life far away from our immediate family can be lonesome and depressing, and the best way to cure these is by having a set of friends who can be your extended family.
There will come a time when you will need someone to be there for you especially when you are in need of assistance, comfort, support, a shoulder to cry on, to talk to, share with, laugh with and fused both of your lives together through thick and thin.
I've learned though, the hard way, that sometimes you'll meet those who are only "friends" during the happy times and won't even bother to ask how you are when the days are cloudy.
Again, I am blogging about the importance of being there for someone. Recently our little angel Sabby, my very dear friend Ivy and Benjie's daughter was brought to the hospital for some check up and treatment of something discomforting her. The family had an overnight stay at a private hospital so that the medical staff could monitor and observce our little angel's progress. The private room they had would compete for a "some star" room as it has a complete amenities, from a shower, comfortable sofa, a leather lazy boy down to the small container of toiletries and soaps that bear the hospital logo! Even the food ration includes a menu and the service was a delight. The Filipina nurses were very friendly and accommodating, and I would really expect that from our Kababayans.
Anyway, going back, after work, I went to visit them at the hospital and when I get there I immediately felt the warm welcome specially when my little "inaanak" smiled at me. I haven't seen her for almost a week since I came back from Aseer Province, and after the pleasantries I settled down. I asked my "sister" Ivy what had happened and requested for me to look after Sabby later as they will go back to their place to get more things. After a while of chatting, Benjie and another officemate decided to buy dinner and Ivy and me were left to take care of our one year old baby.
Like we always do when we are together, we started our "catching up" and talked about people and things, personal and impersonal issues, relieving ourselves of our stresses and bottled up anxieties, all the while I am thinking how happy I am that I was there and she was with me. I could not imagine both our lives without each other in this arid place. She, being a woman who cannot do much as it is forbidden, and I who often got misunderstood and rejected by other groups. Being there for each other, helding each other, listening, being a friend, but what was important was someone was there for them.

I remember the last time, yes, cause I told myself never again, I got the flu, my first year here, maybe because I was adjusting to the hot weather, and was bedridden for a couple of days and left to fend for myself (as my housemates had to go to work), maybe  I felt so helpless and alone that I cried for my mother. I have not yet made any close relationships with anyone that time.
I literally crawled to the kitchen cause I was too weak, to prepare myself some food to eat. I drag myself to the bathroom if I need to be relieved. I longed for someone to be "there" for me, but what can I do? I called home, and only made my mother worry for me, 'cause there is no one there. I have to wait for my housemates to come in the evening in order to have some assistance, but then again, they can only do as much. We need someone to "care" and not just out of sympathy but because they do really.
The importance of being there for someone cannot be surmounted to anything, as the moments shared are too precious. It can change lives, and even alter someone's state of mind. A lonesome person's mind is idle and you know what they say to an idle mind, it can be the devil's playground, whilst a person who knows that they have someone there for them is blessed.