The power of
friendship is something very strong. I
have few friends, mostly because I am an introvert and enjoy time alone and
tend to spend time only with those who matter most to me – my family. Because of that I don't expect a lot from
people, but when someone is nice to me I am always surprised, definitely
pleased and a little sad that I don’t make more effort to expand my circle of
friends.
Lately the power of
sharing my love for candy has widened my circle of friends which is delightful,
but also a little scary because I still suck at being a friend. Laura, a co-worker of mine, was spending the
Christmas holidays in Ireland and promised to bring me back some candy. I was hopeful, but didn’t know what to
expect. Well, I was completely
gobsmacked (yes, note the nod to the use of the British word, but not to be
confused with Willy Wonka’s Everlasting Gobstoppers) when
Laura brought me this massive bag of candy from Ireland – many of which I have
never seen before, and many Cadbury brands (the real Cadbury, not the new fake
version). I don’t think she even had an
inkling of how much that meant to me (again, not comfortable when people are
overly nice to me), and how much I enjoyed savoring each individual piece,
delighting in their newness! I felt
quite special!
Then just a few weeks ago, another co-worker
Elena, this wonderful woman who is originally from Russia, promised me some
Russian candy if I helped her with a project.
Yes, bribery works when candy is involved (though I would have helped
her regardless!). She followed through
on her promise and brought me this box of Russian chocolates – one of her
childhood favorites! By the way, the
candy is semi-sweet chocolate with a marshmallow center – different than
Brach’s marshmallow eggs, more exotic in taste! Again, I was a little uncomfortable
with the attention, but secretly pleased that she went out of her way to do
this for me.
What I realized that from these two experiences
is that friendship can be a very simple undertaking. It doesn’t need to involve grand gestures or
long term commitments or promises, but can be easy and without structure. It is
about finding things that connect you to the other person – even something as
simple as chocolate – and without much effort that bond is formed and you will
be forever linked.
