For Friends Are Friends Forever

This time last month I was in the National Kidney Transplant Institute visiting a friend whose husband was due for a kidney transplant. Dada, as we both fondly call each other, was the first to see me when I entered the NKTI. From her smiles, I couldn’t make out what kind of an ordeal she and her family were undergoing. That moment , I was only too glad to be there with her.

As I headed back to the train station, I was trying to recall how we started to become friends. It was the day when I heard a new occupant has moved in to the room across mine. I knew the room has been reserved for someone two months before but when the occupant arrived I was just too busy or lazy (?) to welcome the new neighbor.We met dawn the following day when I was heading towards the bathroom for my bath while she just finished hers. I inquired if she was the one who moved in yesterday and introduced myself. I couldn’t remember anymore what we’ve talked after the introduction but I believe we ended it with me saying:

Y: Pag may kailangan ka katukin mo lang ako. Titingnan ko kung anong magagawa ko. (If you need something just knock. I’ll try to see what I can do.)

M: Sige kakatok lang ako. Salamat, ha. (Ok, I’ll just knock. Thanks.)

Knock she did. Before the day was over she knocked on my door bringing a book asking about something. The conversation was very short but it paved the way for a friendship that is to last even after our stay in that dormitory. With her, I found an instant companion in most everything I do. I guess, my God saw that I was living a not-so-normal life so He sent someone to bring me back to normalcy.

Sometimes, she’d bring my breakfast and hang it by my doorknob after knocking once although never really expecting a reply. After a time if she can’t sense any movement from my room she then would say loud enough for me hear: “Yung ibang tao dyan kung ayaw ma-mental magbreakfast na!(If you don’t want to go to the mental (hospital) you better take your breakfast!”) or “Hay, naku! Sa lahat ng ayaw ko ay ang kaibigan na sira-ulo! (I really don’t like a nut-case for a friend!). She was more friendly than I that before we knew it, our part of the dormitory which was once enveloped with silence buzzed with controlled laughters from "inmates" who would gather to ate meals in her room (eating in rooms was strictly prohibited by the dormitory management). I stayed longer than her in the dormitory but her acquaintances were three times mine and most of my acquaintaces were because of her. She was the one who gave me Papa Bear, too.

One week ago, after a number of postponements, Paolo her husband, finally received a new kidney from his brother. Dada regularly sent updates while Paolo was under knife. Constantly, she'd asked that I'd say a prayer so that the surgery of Paolo will be successful. I would have wanted to tell her, "Dada, this time you don't have to knock. Because I am all too ready to kneel for you, Paolo and Clyde."



For Friends Are Friends Forever.