Someone to call Friend

The Dictionary definition of a friend is that person who you like and enjoy being with. When you look at the practical definition, a friend is so much more.

Dana grew up in a single-parented family. Her mother had passed on when she just two years old, so living with her father was,  well, interesting. He was very protective of her, but she utterly loved his company. He was the coolest dad ever. Dana's father, Chris, had a degree in Accounting and he had gotten a job at a law firm in town, so life was okay-financially speaking.

Being a single parent had not been easy. As much as Chris wanted a female companion, he could not afford to just date any woman. He also wanted that lady who would be a mother to Dana, and since she was not in any hurry of coming, he chose to stay out of the dating scene and bring up his daughter the best way he knew how.

Dana was his princess, and everything Chris chose to do, he did it with Dana in mind. Dana's birthdays were always celebrated, and being the social being he was, many of his friends were in attendance with their children, and so by extension these children became Dana's friends.

Dana had grown up to be a beautiful young lady. Her career path set out for her, she could be said to be the happiest girl around. She was a final year student, doing Environmental Science at one of the prestigious universities in the country, and the internship her father had helped her get was just what the doctor ordered. But deep down inside, behind the smile and hearty laughter, lay  a secret that Dana could not deny to herself, but had done a great job at hiding.

Dana had no real friends. That is not to put the blame on the friends, but it dawned on her, that she was not as outgoing as her father, and maybe that was why she did not have that circle of friends that she could count on.

It all began when Dana's 21st birthday approached and instead of the week long celebration that is anyone's 21st  birthday, she felt that she did not have much to celebrate. An outsider would have called her ungrateful but even though Dana had a lot she had accomplished in her short life, she still felt a tinge of unhappiness because she did not have anyone to share her successes with.And her darling father did not count. She spent her 21st birthday with her father, a quiet dinner, with him taking photos of her, marvelling about how big she had grown.

What made Dana feel even worse is that she did not have a special someone to confide in. She was a beautiful girl, so why she was still single was beyond her. Maybe her standards were higher than normal. Men were intimidated by her? She did not know. All she knew was that she had a lot of hurt bottled up inside and she was almost developing an ulcer keeping quiet.

Graduation was a few months away, and she knew that as people went house hopping from one friend's house to the other to celebrate, she knew that she would not have that experience.It pained her because she wanted to have even one friend she could call on, even if it were just to have a cup of coffee.

Dana was known by many, but she never really had a connection with people that lasted. And that is why then she felt like she was invisible. that she was that force that went unnoticed, that invention that went undiscovered. She felt unfulfilled.

The moments she spent with her friends, passed by like a blur. She was there but she was not there. She heard what they were talking about, but questions ran through her mind. She wondered how it would be when her friends left to do whatever. She wondered what the future held for her, because every time she felt her heart breaking and weighing a ton.

One day, as her father's best friend came to visit for their usual Saturday Night sports watch, she made up her mind to block out the feeling of loneliness. She would look past the inadequacies in her life. Moreover, she decided that she would live in the moment and enjoy it. But before she could get started on that, she defied that promise and told herself that when and if she got married, she would make friends with her husband's friends, and when he had a night out with his boyz, she would stay up and watch her movies and series sipping wine; and when the kids came, she would stay home when her hubby was out and take care of her children. In the meantime, Dana vowed that she would busy herself with whatever activity to improve herself and others. She was not going to wallow in sadness.

It was a hard reality. She was not a bubbly personality as her father. It was her opinion that she did not have friends, but she was too old to make new ones. So Dana agreed with herself that she would make do with what she had. Being serious was all she had. Even though she was lying to herself, there was no option available to her. She was alone in her own world. This was a good arrangement for everyone. A Win-Win situation. It just had to work, no room for failure.