A Blip in the Radar

She's getting married. I stood back from my monitor while reading that e-mail. And then, a smile.

You were a close friend to me, very close, I would readily admit. Although at times there were awkward moments, seeing you crying, in your tantrums, I could just smile now at your youth and naive ventures. But now you tell me, you're getting married. That, in the words of Peter Pan, is a happy thought.

So let me tell you things I've never had, in gratitude. I've never told you how much you've helped me through lonesome times, when things became empty and dead. Thank you for thinking that a song you would never understand fully was one of the best things you've ever heard and consistently kept in your heart. Thank you for reminding me that life isn't always just about the balance between work and play, but for the melodramas that will make it more challenging. Thanks for missing me when others wouldn't dare, and for making sure that I saw what it meant. Thanks for accepting my humor, even to the point of telling people that you loved me (and again I smile). You did love me, as a friend. And so did I.

Sorry for not taking you out to eat more often, or making you sing the songs you know. Sorry for making you endure a crowd that would mistake you for some other nationality, or why they would ask you a million times where you come from. Sorry for not hugging you a lot more when you needed them most, when I would take for granted how you'd soothe me with your company. I'm sorry for not being who you wanted me to be.

Congratulations, Suleima, for this big step in your life. I pray for fullness, peace, and most of all, love, for a stronger relationship, under the guidance of God.

I will miss you.