An experience worth cherishing
An experience worth cherishing
There are some relationships which need some effort and patience for becoming strong. I am basically a very friendly person, not over-friendly though. So, I find it easy to get along with most of the people in my circle. But, there is a cousin of mine who could never be a good friend to me due to some misunderstandings in childhood. It was some childish fight which had made us dislike each other. We should have let the misunderstanding go and behave like mature but instead, we could never come to talking terms. But I followed the five stages of creating and developing a relationship. In the Initiative phase, one day I was looking at the old photo albums with my uncle and found a picture of mine with that cousin. In that picture, we were hardly a year old and were laughing in the same pram. It occurred to me that I should be friends with him because after all, we are one family and small, childish mistakes should not be taken that seriously to maintain distance from a member of family. I randomly chose to call him one day and invited him to a barbeque party at my house. That was so stupid for both of us that he refused and I too felt funny about myself. Then know what, it happened by chance that I found him attending a birthday party of a common friend. I approached him first and waved Hi. He smiled back feebly and waved back at me. I would not say we talked that day. It was just a Hi that we shared. In the Experimenting phase, I asked my uncle about few things that we
did together as kids. And the story of bowling alley came up. So, with the help of my uncle, I arranged for a visit to the bowling alley and invited my cousin over. To tell the truth, it was playing together which made us feel comfortable with each other in hardly an hour. We were not talking much that day but we did started to feel good to be around. In the next phase i.e. integrating, it was not only me who was showing effort. He too called me over phone at times. We became friends on Facebook too. I posted the childhood picture of ours and tagged him in it with a caption- with my cousin. This worked like magic. We started meeting almost every week and played together. Yes, we attended a barbecue party too but were not bored as we talked to each other about projects at school and games. The next stage i.e. Intensifying, I took the opportunity of a family party to talk to him over our past. I said sorry to him for being so rude and reluctant for so many years. He laughed and said, “Sorry for what? It was nobody’s fault and we ended up being strangers. I would rather say Thank you for starting the conversation first.” And that is how we became very good friends. Now, it was not just projects and sports that we talked about but our personal problems, likes and dislikes too. We help each other when needed; we guide each other through hard times and try to meet every week for a fun-filled hanging out. I can easily say that we are in the final phase of our friendship, bonding or physical as it can be called. Recently when we won a basketball match against another group, we hugged each other as a reflex action to celebrate our victory. I am glad I found a friend in my cousin.
