Friends!

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.