Up, Down and All Around

High Maintenance

One of my older friends decided a few years ago that she wanted to become a missionary and bring Christianity to the people of Nepal, and after a lot of uncertainty, praying, and waiting, her dream finally came true last year.

So off she went, and I have to say I admire her for having the guts to give up a fairly comfortable life and brave the unknown for her beliefs. I had a lot of opportunities to talk with her in the months prior to her departure, and so I really believed in her ability to achieve her personal mission.

In fact, I believe in her so much that in the past few months, I'd been donating some cash to her missionary fund. It's not a lot in absolute amounts, but it's nothing to sneeze at either, especially in relation to the money that I have. But that's how much I believed in her. You might say I like to put my money where my mouth is.

Anyway, last week, I get a phone call from her, asking me if I can meet her for coffee. Turns out that she's back in Manila for a visit and said she can't leave Manila without seeing me and thanking me.

I was flattered that she would take the effort to stay in touch, so at great inconvenience to myself, I figured out a way to meet with her at Megamall. And that's when things went downhill.

I learned that although she was leaving Manila again in two days, she had actually been in town for two entire months already!! Man! I was surprised and at the same time so incredibly disappointed that she waited this long to get in touch.

To add insult to injury, she tells me that she can only spend half an hour with me because she had asked another friend to meet her at the coffee shop in 30 minutes -- apparently, she was cramming all of us into that single evening, half an hour at a time.

I dunno... I never really thought of myself as a high-maintenance friend. I was surprised to realize that I had this expectation that I should warrant more than a squeezed-in, photo-finish half-hour just two days before departure, especially since she had been here for two months.

Ay, ewan. Basta, sumama ang loob ko. And I am yet to figure out whether or not I have the right to feel bad in the first place.

Tags: Personal, Relationships

Posted by CF at 9:35 PM