Fan Mail

I don’t know about YOU, but I find it both very touching and mildly embarrassing when people let you know, either in person, or in writing that they think you are a very special person to them and they value you highly. It does not happen to me very often, but recently there was an interesting concentration of such incidents. One of my best friends seized the occasion of my birthday to write some very personal lines and thank me for being a great friend to her over the years. It made me very happy to read that indeed. Even more recently, somebody whom I had always, personally, considered to be more of a “casual friend” surprised me with a card to let me know I was “the best thing that happened to me these past months” and that same day actually also asked me if I had “always been this cool and uncomplicated”. Being me, I kind of made a joke out of it and asked if she wanted to get my autograph. I told her that a lovely ex-colleague (who is a generation younger than me) once said out of the blue “You know what, if you ever decide to write a self-help book, I would totally buy it.” It has become a joke among the two of us and she always tells me that her friends know me as “that cool (ex) colleague of yours”. Won’t lie, I feel quite flattered, even more so to be considered “cool” and a source of inspiration to somebody in their late twenties. My friend - the one with the lovely card - nodded, when I told her and said “I would totally buy that too!”, which made me laugh. Perhaps I should write a self-help book?! Not that I am familiar with that genre in the least, nor consider my own life a shining example in any way. Not married, no kids, no penthouse in a trendy location. Quite possibly a complete and utter failure in the eyes of many people, but very happy both with what I have and what I have become over the years.

Such “fangirl” behaviour is like a warm hug and compensation for the fact that not all outpours of love and friendship are sincere and long-lived and sometimes those people who seem most smitten with you at first reveal themselves to be fair-weather friends. Yep, speaking from experience here. Be that as it may, I’ll definitely make sure to let the amazing people in my life know that they are amazing more often!