Keeping in touch with the Past

I had a long talk with Walter yesterday and just like in the past, I paid for the call. Well, it’s not that I brag about it but it is something that is given in our friendship-relationship. I, the more endowed, financially and Walter better in a lot more ways.

The topic of the conversation was about his forthcoming wedding. Last minute hassles are catching up with him and he is now trapped in the dilemma of circumstances. Money isn’t coming as expected, pledges remain pledges and the bulk of the source of funds - the proceeds from the sale of their property won’t make it in time for the 23^rd (that’s the wedding date). And again, my friend is being tested.

Everybody around him was saying that things will just fall into place. Others, more brutally frank would say he can’t bail out on something his put himself half way through. He can’t talk to his fiancé about it for the fear of bother her with his worries and prompt her to reconsider the wedding date. He’s weary of talking to benefactors whose pledges have not yet materialized in cash. He’s been having enough of the comments and snide remarks of people around him. And so the possibility of talking to someone way outside the circle of conflict was as promising as it sounds.

I made the call. For one, because I knew him better than to make random miscalls that never meant nothing. And two, I needed to hear his voice to quench my thirst of old familiar things.

The talk was mainly about the whole financial dilemma and how it was “demeaning” him in a lot of ways. For someone who has faith and confidence in the divine, trials as such make or break ones faith. As for me, I was helpless the whole time. In a way because, for one, I couldn’t really help him with the financial aspect and two because I have not much practice with consoling a friend in need for the past few years. So I was just there listening, as I always do. The unloading did him her, I think because as I got a thanks for being there remark when it ended.

Yeah, listening helps. And you don’t even have to offer any solutions to a problem for you to be an effective listener. The mere venting of emotions already makes the whole situation seem bearable. As for me, I was grateful. Not only because I was able to connect with someone from my past but also because I felt needed and wanted. When you are married and you don’t connect as often with friends, you look forward to crises and issues. And it makes you feel worthwhile.