Remembering the Friends Left
Behind in El Salvador
By Gaby Ticas
Some
of the author's friends in El Salvador.
In Valentines month it is time to remember our friends. For me, it’s the
time I think about my friends that I left in El Salvador. I remember all the
good and fun moments that we had during my time with them.
I have many friends from different ages. Some of them I’m have known since
I was small. The other ones are from the schools I went to during my elementary
and high school days. I still talk to my friends by e-mail, chatting by MSN messenger
or by talking on the phone. We send pictures to each other too, and we still
share a lot of things.
I really miss them and I know they miss me, too. I can’t compare our friendship
with anything in the world. I remember that at school we used to have lunch together
and go to the gym and give them encouragement to win!! They still do that because
it doesn’t matter if they graduated from high school already, they keep
having their school spirit inside. I miss all thethings that I can’t do
anymore here. Here my friends don’t have time to have a little fun because
they have to work.
On spring break my friends, my family’s friends, and I used to go to the
beach and sleep over for a few days. They were the best moments in my life because
there we used to forget about schoolwork and many other things also. There we
used to have a lot of fun, swimming, running, eating.
Between my friends and me there was no selfishness. We never argued about who
was better, who had more money, who was more popular. We were all the same and
we didn’t have any secrets between us. We helped each other and even when
we were on vacation, we still met each other to have fun or to hang out a little
bit.
As I was thinking and writing about friendship, on December, 17, 2003 I lost
one of my friends. His name was Joel. Hearing about his death was the most awful
news that I have had since I came here. I will always remember him forever because
he was so nice, respectful and loving to everybody. In situations like this we
are still together and I’m very thankful to God because he has given me
so many good friends that I would like to keep having forever.
Having friends is so important. We need people we can talk with, share many things
with, someone whom we can ask for advice, someone who is with us in good and
bad moments. Friends have special places in our hearts. And when we lose a friend,
it is like losing a part of ourselves.
