I’ve decided to start another new weekly column called Friendship Friday. I like alliteration and I like friendship more. Specifically, I love supporting and encouraging female friendship. Women are constantly told to be in competition with each other, whether directly or indirectly through messages in the media. Yet women are so relational and sensitive. My life has been so positively impacted by female friendship. So each Friday will be a little toast to a friend.
I write this from the airport in Managua, Nicaragua. I’m able to sit in a bar and have a drink in peace thanks to my friend Brittany. I’ve only been friends with Brittany since June, but there’s a special sort of bonding that comes from a shared experience in a new culture.
I moved to Matagalpa at the start of the American summer and had planned to work with a community organization for a year. Brittany was doing the same and was hence my roommate. A little over a month into my time in Nicaragua, my mom had a brain aneurysm. I rushed back to the United States with the essentials … a small bag with a week’s worth of clothing, toiletries, my passport, debit card, etc. Basically, I left stuff that I cared about in Nicaragua because I thought I was returning. Afterall, they stabilized my mother and I had committed to a year in Nicaragua.
Without getting into too many details, the option to return was not there after the three weeks I spent with my mother. I was devastated. At the crux of it all was my stuff. It wasn’t just my lap top, but my favorite clothing too. My dresses! I’m so excited to have my favorite dresses back.
Brittany is my friend of the week. Actually, I called her “amiga del año,” which means friend of the year in Spanish. It was a hard transition to have to work through on top of my mother being in the hospital. She was just there to skype or talk things through.
I originally was going to ship my things back, which made me nervous. You cannot entirely trust the postal system in Nicaragua. I then found a very inexpensive flight out of Chicago and jumped on it. Brittany was just so amazing in helping me make my short trip to Nicaragua a smooth one. She packed my things up for me and took them to our other friend’s house where I stayed. She also arranged for a driver to take me to the airport since I have a late flight and a lot of luggage. She really made my time in Nicaragua fun and stress-free.
Brittany, thank you for your support. I’m sitting here in the airport content. For my own sanity, I have my things accounted for and headed back to the states with me. You rock! I hope the rest of your time in Nicaragua is simply amazing.
