29th of August 2017
Yesterday I went to my hairdresser. I needed a haircut and my summer colour had faded away. Now was the time to do something drastic. The autumn is coming and everything changes, even my hair.
I had decided what to do about my hair. I wanted a dark colour and highlights. My wonderful friend and my hairdresser agreed. She began to put the colour in the hair and it looked strange.
Is this dark chocolate brown? I asked. No, its not, she replied. This is the blond colour.
My heart sank. I was going to be a Blondie. Was there anything worse that could happen to me? To me who is a fighter, a real fighter and far from being a Blondie. Shaking and pale like a dead one I explained to my dresser that this one was for the highlights. Really? she asked
Yes ! I whimpered and thought, Now she is going to be pissed off with me.
She was not pissed off, just changed to dark chocolate brown, I love chocolate, and I was happy.
While waiting, as you know, if you have ever had to change your hair colour, there is a lot of waiting, I and the other customer plus my dresser, were the only ones in the room. And the conversation began. The customer, who I had not seen before, was Portuguese. She was curious about how long I had been in Portugal and about my life here.
While I was telling her about my last 6 and a half year, I thought about how grateful I was for all the help I got from day one in my new homeland.
One of the people who has helped me to adjust to my new culture and home is my teacher. When in Iceland I had began to learn singing. I never sang. I was told I could not sing but one day a long time ago I decided to find out. To make a long story short it looked like I could learn to sing. My voice had not been destroyed by misusing it and I began from scratch. I loved it.
While in China I did not find anyone who was willing to teach a 60 something lady to sing so my study was on hold. I left China and moved to Portugal and my search for a teacher began. A friend of mine in Penela told me about Carla. We met and she agreed to take me as her student. We have been working together on my voice for more than 5 years. I enjoy every moment and we have become the best of friends.
I really love this wonderful person, my teacher, and her family. They have taken me under their wings, as so many other friends here in my new country. My dear friend Carla got married and she invited me to her wedding. Some time ago I did blog about the wedding and you can read the story if you like.
Carla is happy. She is beautiful and her husband is a wonderful person. When the priest had finished the ceremony Carla and I hugged and we both cried. That is what I do when I am happy, and I was so happy for my dear friends and grateful for being allowed to be a part of their lives.
This blog is about gratitude. Gratitude for my Portuguese friends who never let me down. Not a day goes bye where I do not count my blessing for my friends. Friends are not someone you meet and forget about. Friends are there for you when you need them and you are there for them when they need you. Friends are precious. They are worth more than all the gold and diamonds in the world.
Without friends your life is empty. Gratitude fills my heart with joy and my teacher is among the diamonds in my life.
Hulda Björnsdóttir
My thoughts shared with you 