Friends Are The People We Wish Were Family

There is nothing as scary as breaking something that doesn’t belong to you, especially when you’ve told the owner that you will take good care of them.

Well, I’m sure there are scarier things out there but its so intimidating having to tell that person the truth. Your mind starts to spin, making up different stories as to why their belongings are now completely useless.

Recently a very good friend of mine forgot his sunglasses at my flat and I promised to look after them until I could give them back. Sunglasses are tricky as they are so easily broken and can range in value from about R20 to R5000.

So, not knowing their value I put them on my desk and didn’t touch them for a week. Next thing I knew they were broken and I was buying super-glue in the hopes of fixing them. Problem is that for some reason super-glue seems to work really well as a paint remover. So now, not only are they broken, but they’re also colourless and completely ruined.

So finally, this morning I plucked up every last ounce of courage I had and I sent Ali a text to tell him that I had broken his sunglasses and that I would replace them.

I was terrified. What if he got upset? What if they had sentimental value? What if they were really expensive? Would this ruin our friendship? Would he hate me forever?

So shaking from head to toe I waited for his reply. Seconds seemed like hours and the longer I sat there staring at my phone the bigger the issue seemed to be. Suddenly it wasn’t just a case of broken glasses but rather an issue of broken trust.

Finally the dreaded light of my blackberry flickered and to my relief I saw that it was indeed from him. Nervously I opened the text and read it... then reread it, and read it for a third time.

Turns out they only cost R25.

All that stress for nothing?

Well, not necessarily. If anything it told me something very important about our friendship. I must truly care about our friendship if I am that terrified of loosing it. And I must value our friendship far more than a pair of sunglasses, regardless of their value, to be able to man up and tell him the truth.

Either that or Ali is really unintimidating!