True Friends And Family We Will Never Part

A strong friendship doesn’t need daily conversation; it doesn’t always need togetherness As long as the relationship lives in the heart, true friends will never part. These are very good words I got this off a friend’s Facebook. They are not her words, they are from somebody, and we do not know who to give credit to. This is fine; they are a great and comforting message. I had to deal today and yesterday with a problem with my computer and cellphone. The first person I dealt with was in India and his name was Mohamed. He was very polite and very nice. Every other word, is thank you for waiting, we appreciate your business, I will be right back, please excuse me etc. He tried very hard, but could not solve my problem. I called back later and spoke to a lady in Ohio. She too was polite and knowledgeable and could not find a solution. The third one was in Tennessee and she told me she was raised for a few years in Baltimore and was an army brat so they moved around often. She told me to go to the Verizon store near me and they would be able to do it from the store, whereas she was not capable in Tennessee to follow through for what I needed. My husband took the cell phone to the store with my written directions and she spoke to me on the phone, while he was there and told me to call back in India because she could not do it here. I really felt like I was getting the run around via Verizon. I decided to try one more time. I do not give up easily. I called again expecting to get someone in India again. This time it was a lady in the Philippines. Her name was Marjorie. She told me she could fix the problem and everything would be fine. She did and in about fifteen minutes, she solved the problem that three other competent workers could not do. I told her she was my favorite Marjorie and told her supervisor how wonderful she was with her personality and with her being able to fix both the computer and the cellphone and I was back in business with both of them. I must say Verizon is a great place to deal with for cellphones and computer equipment. People who are polite make it easier for the public to deal with them and it makes you feel glad you chose their firm. Sometimes they cannot solve your problem, but at least your conversations with them are pleasant. I was glad I persevered and found Marjorie. There are others, that when you talk to them about anything at all, they put up what I have named a talk barrier. By that I mean, they either do not pay attention to you while you are talking to them, they look away, do not answer or start to talk to someone else in the room. Then there are others, no matter what you say, start to argue about the subject, when no argument is really necessary. Then there are the third divisions of people you speak with, who overwhelm you with their interest and they genuinely seem to care what you are speaking about. These Verizon employees fall into the third group. They listen like you are paying them one hundred dollars an hour that you are a dear relative or you are a prospective customer which they will gain much profit from. It would be nice to have friends and relatives that were like them. We hope that our friends care for us enough to listen to us when we need them for an emergency or to relate to a wonderful act that we incurred. We hope that we are there for them too when it happens in their life. Dad had a friend from his younger years and he lived in Boston. He would come to Baltimore every five years or so to visit his only nephew. One time while visiting him, he came over to visit Dad and Mom. They had been real buddies in their early twenties and he moved away to Boston and Dad stayed in Baltimore. He saw me and wanted to introduce me to this nephew he was visiting. I said what was his name, thinking maybe I knew him. He said his nephew’s name was Felix. I said I have a boyfriend, because I did not want to go out with a guy named Felix. That was you may say my idiosyncrasy. Maybe because I have an unusual pretty name, I did not want to meet up with someone with a kind of way out name. I had had a boyfriend with the name of Merle, and did not want another boyfriend with an unusual name now. I had a boyfriend with the name of George and had an uncle named George and really did not want a friend named that, in case I got serious about him. Names are labels of our personality, it seems. I loved my Uncle George. So I did not go out with Felix, not even once, I went out with Merle about ten times and then I waited for a guy with a regular name and I got one named Jerome, nicknamed Jerry. A name should not label a person in a bad way, however if the other person feels it does, then she or he should not be with the person of that name and possibly marry them and be stuck with it for fifty years. Some people chose their mates because they are of the same religion or have the same occupation or in the same age group Choose carefully and like a piece of furniture that you use for fifteen years, make sure the whole person suits you and your personality and your lifestyle. If you ask any an adult, would they choose the name they were given for themselves, women would probably say no. They would say I wanted my name to be Samantha instead of Sheila; I wanted my name to be Allison instead of Alice. As long as the relationship lives in your heart for a good amount of time and you feel you know each other well; then you can go to the next level before you make a final commitment of names if it matters to you. I knew someone who married a lady with a shrill voice. We kids could not understand how he could stand to hear her call him by name in that shrill tone. She was a lovely woman, just had the voice that was not so lovely and that was not her fault and she could not do anything about it. I had a cousin named Marjorie just like that lady who helped me from Verizon. Her dad called her Midge because she was small at birth. She hated the name Midge and told everyone to call her Marjorie. Family members could not get used to calling her Marjorie; they still called her Midge all the way until she was thirty. I tried to call her Marjorie but it felt odd because we knew her for thirty years as Midge. I do not blame her for wanting the change and I was very careful to oblige her feelings. My first name is Esther, second is Elita and always was called by my second name from babyhood on, because my grandmother who I was named after had done the same. Mom had a very uppity talking cousin and whenever she would see me, would insist on calling me by both names which I did not want.This was something she always did and I wanted to tell her not to, but she had this obnoxious manner about her; that I let it go because I might only see her once in twenty years. When my husband graduated pharmacy school in 1960, her niece graduated at the same time. She recognized me and came up and said real loud “HI there Esther Elita, how are you?” I said finally to her Cousin Esther (funny thing that was her first name too) do not call me by both names, I am Elita. She looked at me in her haughty manner, now in senior plus years and said “Ok young lady, I will not.” She did not even refer to me by one or two names. Luckily, I never saw her again. I finally figured out that she called me by both names, because her first one was the same as mine and this made her feel superior or arrogant or whatever one would choose to think about her. I like the name of Esther, there was a Queen named Esther, I only go by my second name and that should be it. As I said in a former article, names are important to the one giving the name to the baby and to the person who when grown up has to use the name. We can use names to define our friends too. You can say Mary is my best friend, Eva is my second best friend and I hardly care about Carolyn being my friend. So you have named them names of the order you feel about them. So a strong friendship doesn’t need daily conversation and togetherness, but it needs a relationship that does live in your heart daily, weekly, monthly and yearly. We never part with our true and loving friends and no matter what name they have for their appointed name, honor them regardless of whether you admire, like or love their name; because it is the person, not the name they go by, who caught a spark and left it in your heart with a glow seen by you forever. True friends will never part and part of that is the warm feeling one feels when they hear your name or you hear theirs. It is a strong feeling and whether together often or apart for a long period of time, it will always remain a sweet sound. So to mom’s Cousin Esther, I am Elita and that is my name and I am glad you finally learned that. Even though you and I had the same first name, I did not like you, because you insisted in your high arrogant voice to call me something that I was not called. You did that on purpose and I define you in my mind even after fifty-two years of not seeing you, that you were not my good relative or my dear friend. I would rather remember you now that you are gone with more of a kinder thought.That is OK now, I believe you meant nothing bad about it, you just had to show your uppity attitude towards people even though you were not so special yourself. I am the special one because I showed you dignity and class, because I finally nicely told you what I wanted and you answered me like I was a child. I was the one with a good hearted attitude and will be remembered for that and that is what family and friends are all about. To be remembered in life and afterwards as a kind and considerate person is the utmost we can strive for and knowing we always tried to do the proper thing in reference to family, friends and even strangers makes us special. There is the old saying “do unto others, as you want them to do unto you.” That I try to do. I hope I accomplish that, at least I try real hard to do it. elita sohmer clayman Fairfax Patch