Why Ms. A is my best girl (2)
I've written about my RL best friend, Ms. A, before. Yes, she's the one that brings me balance.
Well, today, something happened that made me completely appalled at myself for failing to give thanks to Ms. A in the Thanksgiving night post.
My hubby's cold has been lingering on for like 10 days now, and because of that, we really couldn't go anywhere during this Thanksgiving holiday. So I was naturally inching to GET OUT OF THE HOUSE for some fun. So, who do I call? Of course, Ms. A.
We went to eat brunch at a Chinese restaurant, and then headed to the mall in her car for some girl-bonding time (i.e. shopping).
She was talking about some presents, and dropping them off, and needing my help... And then she pulled the car over close to one of the mall entrances and told me to get out and wait for her while she goes to park her car. I said "I can come with you, you don't need to drop me off." But then she says something else, and proceeds to open the back of her mini-van. Tons of presents. She unloads them onto the bench that was right there beside me. Six large bags full of toys, all happily lined up on the bench side-by-side. Then she drives off to park the car while I watched the toys.
Well, Ms.A is like 'connect-the-dots'; she often gives me a bunch of dots, but then I have to connect them together in order to make sense out of what she's really saying. XD
And then I realized. Around Christmas time each year, there appear at the mall several trees called Angel Trees. Each of these Angel Trees has hanging on it many request slips from children in need. People who are willing to sponsor a child will buy the present requested on the slip and bring the slip back with the requested gift.
Ms.A has been doing this for as long as I've known her (14 years), but she never talks about it, so I tend to completely forget about it. Even back then when she didn't have enough money to buy herself a sweater, she always managed to buy at least a few toys for these children she only knew the names of. But now that she's a teacher in college (She teaches Japanese) and makes a decent living, the number of toys she buys seems to have increased drastically.
Half complaining and half amazed, I wobbly carried three of her six heavy bags all the way to the counter next to the Angel Trees. The ladies at the counter were so impressed and happy to see all the gifts we'd brought and kept thanking us, and I was busy telling them "It's not me, it's all her!!". All the gifts combined, she must've spent at least $300. Mind you, even though she makes a decent living, she's not wealthy by any means.
While the ladies and Ms.A were busy checking all the gifts in, I really had to use all my will power to hold back my tears. I really didn't want to start blubbering in the middle of the mall!! ><
When it was all done, and we started moving away from the counter, I told her with a shaking voice that I was trying not to cry. She just waved it off and started talking about something else.
That's just who she is. She does things for people, friends or strangers, and never expects anything in return. She doesn't need to be recognized or praised for her kindness. This is the type of people that I most admire. People who don't expect anything in return for their kindness and generosity.
She's just like that with our friendship, too. I'm always busy and hardly ever available when she wants to hang out with me. There have been numerous times when she asked me if I was available, and I said "No, I'm too busy", and later found out that she'd just broken up with her boyfriends. And yet she has never complained about my absence, and is always there for me when I need her, even though she's also very busy and has lots of other friends.
I feel like I don't deserve her, and yet we've stuck together for so long...
I'm so grateful that she values my friendship just as much as I do hers.
So, this is a love letter from me to her, even though she'll never get to read it.
I LOVE YOU, Ms.A. ALWAYS.
Well, today, something happened that made me completely appalled at myself for failing to give thanks to Ms. A in the Thanksgiving night post.
My hubby's cold has been lingering on for like 10 days now, and because of that, we really couldn't go anywhere during this Thanksgiving holiday. So I was naturally inching to GET OUT OF THE HOUSE for some fun. So, who do I call? Of course, Ms. A.
We went to eat brunch at a Chinese restaurant, and then headed to the mall in her car for some girl-bonding time (i.e. shopping).
She was talking about some presents, and dropping them off, and needing my help... And then she pulled the car over close to one of the mall entrances and told me to get out and wait for her while she goes to park her car. I said "I can come with you, you don't need to drop me off." But then she says something else, and proceeds to open the back of her mini-van. Tons of presents. She unloads them onto the bench that was right there beside me. Six large bags full of toys, all happily lined up on the bench side-by-side. Then she drives off to park the car while I watched the toys.
Well, Ms.A is like 'connect-the-dots'; she often gives me a bunch of dots, but then I have to connect them together in order to make sense out of what she's really saying. XD
And then I realized. Around Christmas time each year, there appear at the mall several trees called Angel Trees. Each of these Angel Trees has hanging on it many request slips from children in need. People who are willing to sponsor a child will buy the present requested on the slip and bring the slip back with the requested gift.
Ms.A has been doing this for as long as I've known her (14 years), but she never talks about it, so I tend to completely forget about it. Even back then when she didn't have enough money to buy herself a sweater, she always managed to buy at least a few toys for these children she only knew the names of. But now that she's a teacher in college (She teaches Japanese) and makes a decent living, the number of toys she buys seems to have increased drastically.
Half complaining and half amazed, I wobbly carried three of her six heavy bags all the way to the counter next to the Angel Trees. The ladies at the counter were so impressed and happy to see all the gifts we'd brought and kept thanking us, and I was busy telling them "It's not me, it's all her!!". All the gifts combined, she must've spent at least $300. Mind you, even though she makes a decent living, she's not wealthy by any means.
While the ladies and Ms.A were busy checking all the gifts in, I really had to use all my will power to hold back my tears. I really didn't want to start blubbering in the middle of the mall!! ><
When it was all done, and we started moving away from the counter, I told her with a shaking voice that I was trying not to cry. She just waved it off and started talking about something else.
That's just who she is. She does things for people, friends or strangers, and never expects anything in return. She doesn't need to be recognized or praised for her kindness. This is the type of people that I most admire. People who don't expect anything in return for their kindness and generosity.
She's just like that with our friendship, too. I'm always busy and hardly ever available when she wants to hang out with me. There have been numerous times when she asked me if I was available, and I said "No, I'm too busy", and later found out that she'd just broken up with her boyfriends. And yet she has never complained about my absence, and is always there for me when I need her, even though she's also very busy and has lots of other friends.
I feel like I don't deserve her, and yet we've stuck together for so long...
I'm so grateful that she values my friendship just as much as I do hers.
So, this is a love letter from me to her, even though she'll never get to read it.
I LOVE YOU, Ms.A. ALWAYS.