Cheers when you’re low

The million worst things that could happen to you. Ever.

1. Your mum (after telling you she doesn't mind splurging once in a while) refuses to buy you that magenta/fuscia – turquoise sequin adorned saree you've been dreaming about for roughly the past century because "Child, I am NOT going to spend so much on a bleeding saree you're going to wear once!"
   
2. You take two kids to the store opposite the street and it turns out their tyrannical mum doesn't know they've left the one you were in earlier, PLUS they've never ever crossed the street before – ever. Although they've been alive and WALKING for the past ten years or so. And so the tyrant wrings their ears right there on the street while you look on guiltily and hopelessly and your mum gives you the look. Fuck the haters smirking from across the street.
   
3. You run out of precious credit on your phone, and REMAIN so for the next few days because some sucker who is on a different network has decided that you're a nice one to bug with nuisance calls (possibly 'cus 'patta kunuharapa' from a pink-ass teenage female is entertaining? Shit!).
   
4. Your twin soul has invited her friend (aka The Bitch – who is not YOUR friend) to her house and leaves for town just before The Bitch arrives. So The Bitch calls you up (one instance you DEEPLY regret living close to your best mates' place) and says "hey! I'm at Shezs' and she's not here! What do I do??" and you, have no choice but to go over and entertain her with fake-ass small-talk for the next hour or so although you can't fucking stand her guts OR the sight of her (especially after that FREAKY short hair-do that makes her look like she's got a stick of candy-floss glued to her head).
   
5. You go to a family friends' place 'cus they've got a son who's like HAWT and a sophomore (who is being PAID to study!) at Harvard to discover that your mum's REALLY interested in the warped bio-physic he studies at college. No possibility of that cosy chat you were hoping for.
   
6. You are the Sudoku champ but you fuck up that simple puzzle they set for the fucking 'Common General Test'. Your friend who's never seen one before gets the damned thing right.
   
7. You find a person to blame everything on and then realize that person doesn't really exist.
   
8. You're have a long-awaited terribly-missed conversation with your psycho-sister about He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named only to discover you're STILL not over that other bastard who looked like he was made of matchsticks and couldn't fuck a tree (although he did you pretty good) and was DEFINITELY NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU AND FUCKED ANOTHER BITCH (who looks like something from a 'save the starving Ethiopians' advert) BEHIND HIS FUCKING DESK AT OFFICE!!! Plus the guy you liked soon after that episode (the one who didn't know you existed) is STILL SO HAWT!
   

   *faint!
   

9. That disproportionately divided half of you leaves on a train bound for Colombo while you stand on the platform and half-heartedly stare 'cus, although she's coming back in two days, that's a hellova long time to be semi-existent…
   

Which brings me to the woman herself. It's something I've been thinking about lately, how amazing real friendship can really be. I've known her just a coupla years but some things we've been through together, I know will keep us this way for ever. It was difficult not to stand protectively behind her as she stood on that platform waiting for the train. It was difficult not to tell her a million things she already knew about her safety. It was difficult not to tell her that maybe she should take the gold chain off and put it on when she's safely in her aunts' car. It was difficult not to walk slowly behind her as she went up to the right carriage. It was difficult to watch her confront the guy who was sitting where she should be, and not go punch the suckers' face in. It was difficult to smile and wave as the train slowly pulled out. The hardest part was turning around and walking back to the vehicle and going home. She's no child of mine, she's just two months younger, but it's difficult not to think she needs my protection and it's difficult not to need to protect her.

It's good to wake up in the morning and think of a few people that mean the world to you and know for sure that they wake up thinking of you. It's great when you're feeling bad and you need a hug and they know before you have to tell them so. It's just elating when you can say "I love you" and they say "I love you too" and you can see in their eyes that they mean it. The best part is that there's nothing more to it.

Its funny how I always took this for granted, never realized that it wasn't a common thing but something special God gave me. Switching schools and good friends moving out and moving back in has made me realize how many people out there don't really have real friends. The type you can cry on and use their t-shirt to blow your nose, the type you can spit on and scratch 'til they bleed just to vent your anger. The type that's the earth you stand on, the sun that lights your way, the wind that blows in your face, the blanket you wrap around yourself in the cold and the water you stop to drink when you're tired.

I have this, and when I remember, I am happy.