Ol' Friend, I Salute You!

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There's always this sweet feeling about meeting old friends; friends who you have not met for a real real long time... Today was such a day... Early in the morning, I made my way to Harbourfront to collect my office's camera from servicing because the image sensor was faulty. Thank God, they repaired it for us free even though the warranty is over. Talking about good customer services, this kinda leave a good impression in me and I am quite sure I might get canon the next time :)

Oh yes, as I was saying... I decided to make a detour to visit one of my centres nearby to observe a volunteer project and also collect some photos for my volunteer yearbook. As I stepped into the centre, I realised that the centre was teeming with activities. The student volunteers had started the elderly on some simple craftwork (things I know I will be horrible in) and I just like it when I see volunteers and beneficiaries having a good time together. I guess there is this kind of job satisfaction to know that I have made a match between volunteers and their assignments and everyone is having a good and meaningful time... I sometimes really don't mind being where I am. Although sometimes I think about doing direct work but then sometimes seeing happy faces and knowing that I have played a part in making this possible makes me happy enough.

Then, I was asked to join a group already working on their craft in a corner; this group mainly made up of staff and two social work attachment students. As I was being introduced to the students, one of the student kept having this "focused" look at me... then he blurted out... "Were you from..." Turn out that he is my friend from my first three months JC class! Now talking about how small the world is... we sat there and talked abit, trying to catch up. As I mentioned, somehow there is this sweetness meeting an old friend you have lost touch with for a long time...

Well, there are still awkward silence some times but soon, I was distracted and went off snapping some photos of the volunteers at work. Then, after a while, at the corner of my eye, I saw my friend stand up, grabbed hold of his clutches and inched his way to me... Deep in my mind, I was wondering why he was limping and I assumed that he had maybe recently hurted himself in some accident or something like that...

"You must be wondering why I am using crutches ah?" my friend gave me a faint smile and spoke in an almost nonchalant manner. Then, what he was to say jut caught me by surprise that I did not know how to respond, not even with my social work training and past experience in counselling... "I had a tumour in my leg after graduating from poly. Now you know why I have also chosen to take a course and considering a career in this line (social work)." I was seriously dumb-founded... I really did not know what to say. I don't know whether to continue talking about it, to talk about something more cheerful or just be a bit irrelevant and switch topics quickly. Immediately, this sweetness of meeting an old friend soon became this sour sour feeling... in my mind, I kept thinking how different this person was a few years ago and in just a few things, so much has changed... but frankly, he did inspire me... I do not know how and why but then somehow, I felt that despite his condition, he has chosen not to be all miserable about himself and dedicate himself to serve others... that was enough to make my heart cringe; the thought about him making his way around for home visits and not letting his limited physical mobility obstruct him. I really salute him...

OK, today is relatively a short day because I literally spent quite some time travelling here and there and by the time I returned back to office, it was almost knock-off time. Decided to pack up early to come back home to blog... have been some time since I blogged and I just had so much to blog about... just like I still have my trip to blog about and it has been so long! Sighhh, don't know how I am going to complete all the blogging. Maybe not. Oh yes, have also decided to voluntarily go on a simple fast on Wednesday nights. Would be a way to perhaps lose some weight and also I am making a commitment to fast and pray for my cell... pray that God will help me guide my cell.