Who are your friends?

22nd of January 2021

Do your friends tell story about who you are?

I was trying to figure out who someone, I know slightly, is.

I looked at the persons friends on Facebook and found something interesting and it made me think about the story behind my friends.

I have friends from all over the world and they each and everyone tell a story about me. They know different part of me and I know different part of them.

Some friends are close and others are distant.

Now, in the Covid time, I do connect a lot with my friends on the social media and we talk on Facebook, on Skype and WeChat. I deleted WhatsApp and I don´t use hangout anymore.

My closest friends are the ones I speak to either on video call or just voice call.

These days we are in lock down here in my little land and I miss my friends dearly. I miss my gym and my friends there. I also miss my friends around Portugal, the friends I normally visit and hug and kiss. I am a hugger and it is vital for my soul to embrace people.

Since last March I have not been able to get a hug. It is killing me and I look forward to normal again. I can’t hardly wait but patience has to be my goal.

Because I can’t travel and I can’t visit countries I would like to explore I have to rely on my friends and their stories.

I am going to move around when the NORMAL arrives and there are distant continents I want to explore.

Until I can fly into the future I have to rely on my friends and ,any of my friends are helping me. I have been told about Korea and I find South Korea quite interesting and Seoul is on my wish list. I also want to explore AFRIKA but there is a problem which I have not solved yet. My Chinese friends tell me that Afrika is not for women!

Afrika is not just a tiny place like my little land. It is a continent with 4 corners and several small pieces just like Europe is. It is exciting to try to figure out where in Afrika I might put my feet and that’s why I am getting information and help from my friends there.

It would also be wonderful to visit China and see my students which are now grown up and have made their own families and my fellow teachers are also on my mind. How wonderful it would be to go to Quanzhou and Xiamen and Fuzhou and have a good laughter with my friends there.

I can not forget my wonderful friends all around Europe. Scandinavia, Italy, Germany, Denmark, France are all countries that pop up in my mind when I think about my friends abroad, friends that I am in regular contact with and would be more than welcoming.

Yes, I might even go to church in China and listen the priest there. That is always an adventure and completely different from the Catholic tradition in my little land.

Going to a temple in China is also something I would do. Visiting a temple and talking to the monks is always an adventure, they are wise and they share their wisdom.

I began writing this because I wanted to figure out who someone is by looking at the persons friends on Facebook. It led me to think about all my precious dear friends all around the world. This is a bit like writing a Christmas card, sitting down and thinking about each and everyone and sending thoughts of love and writing greetings and expressing gratitude.

I am lucky. I have many diamonds; my diamonds are my friends.

I am also lucky being retired and having time to write, to sing, to travel, to connect and to be happy. I want NORMAL but until then I am going to plan my future. My future is exciting and there is a lot of love and happiness in my future. Happiness is a mindset, someone wrote. I agree. Health is a lifestyle and each and everyone has the power to change.

Being able to take a long walk and explore the unknown is a privilege but if you think I have plenty of time of my hand because I am not working normal work is a myth. I am busy, very busy every day. Some of my friends think I am just sitting around waiting for the day to end. No, that’s not me. I wish sometimes I had more than 24 hours per day but that something I have no control over!

Being retired does not mean you are not busy. It just mean you can do what you did not have time to do while others did own your time.

Being in love is wonderful, but being in love with life is heaven on earth and that is possible for everyone.

Hulda Björnsdóttir