You Don’t Just Build Friendship. Sometimes You Find It.

This time I am going to write about friendship. The post comes after a month since the last one. We’ve been on holidays in Romania, eating the good food, spending time with family and friends, new and old.

A lot of things happened, but one thing got stuck in my head and I just have to put it down.

A special kind of person

I have recently discovered two people with whom I have a certain kind of connection. Alin is in it too, and we have both marveled at how sometimes you just meet somebody and there is no need for words, backgrounds or other information. You simply feel connected to that person in ways you can’t explain.

Now let me try and explain 🙂

This trip to Romania, we have discovered and befriended O. We hadn’t seen her face to face, just chatted a bit on social media. After she heard we were going to come to Bucharest, she offered us a place to stay in her apartment. And not just that. Since we arrived in the city sometime around noon, we had to pick up the key and go to her place unaccompanied.

Now take a step back and think: how many people would you have done this for? How many complete strangers would you have allowed into your house, while you were out? How many strangers would you have shopped for and laid towels on the bed? Would you have thought of leaving some pens and paper on the table for their kid? No? Me neither!

My point is …

O. is one of a kind. Some might think she is naive. Some might take her as an example of good in this world. Everybody is entitled to their own opinion.

This entire experience proved me not just that there are good sensible people in this world. After I met O. and talked for a bit, I was astonished by how natural our interaction was, how open and seamless. I couldn’t tell where my personality stopped and hers started.

O. is not the only person I have met and I felt somehow strangely connected to. There was also A., a few months back. I had the feeling of talking to a long lost friend when I first saw her.

The definition of “friendship” changes with age

I have never been a popular person, that is why friendship for me was a big deal. There are all these clichés saying that the older you get, the more difficult it is to find it. I beg to differ. For some reason, the older (or wiser) I get, it’s become easier to recognise those uniquely wonderful connections that enrich me, that bring me happiness.

Coolness is overrated. Stuff like “I know him/her since ages” begins to lose gravity as well.

So how do you pick and keep our friends now, you ask? It’s easy: By how you feel after they have inhabited your heart.
What does that even mean? I will tell you: Imagine your preferate dish. I will think of eclairs, ok? The last bite of your favourite dish. How does that taste feel on your palate? That’s the feeling I am talking about, that’s the feeling you are looking for when it comes to friends.

I gotta go and eat something, damn it.