Circle of Friends

There are the ups - the good times like Friday night, when I remember who I am and what my life was before depression - and then there are the downs. Today was a down.

Today is Tpiggy's birthday. Baleeted planned a dim sum outing to celebrate, with a small group of close friends. I had been planning to attend ever since finding out about it, but then, this morning happened. I woke up, got dressed, put on some makeup, checked my email, etc. I was all ready to go, and suddenly, the prospect of going out and acting social with a group of happy, laughing people was just so daunting. I was completely overwhelmed by the whole idea of the outing, and all I could do was crawl back in bed and hide under the covers... for the next three hours.

I felt - still feel - bad for missing Tpiggy's birthday celebration, but as I said in my text message to her - because I couldn't even make myself call - "Can't leave bed - I'm sorry." I could only hide myself away and refuse to face the world, and what good is that, really? What help is that to anyone, especially myself? Can I really say that I'm strong when I feel this weak?

Tpiglette came over in the afternoon to bring me some pork pastries, my favorite dim sum food, that she had saved for me. She chatted with me a bit, in the hopes of helping me to feel better. She was sweet, and made me feel a bit less guilty for missing her birthday brunch. The "comfort food" aspect of her visit reminded me of another time, long ago, when she - along with Ladybug and Natalie - did similarly for me.

It was my freshman year of college, and I was struggling a bit with difficult times. My three dear friends decided to cheer me up with my favorite comfort food: Cheetos and Haagen-Dazs coffee ice cream. But they didn't want to bring me food just like that - they wanted to have some fun too. Outside my dorm room, I found a bag of goodies, along with a note that said:

Girls like Lara are rare
And with this girl no one can compare.
But in her bag of gifts
There is one that’s been missed
And she’ll have to find it on the stair.

Ooh, a clue! How exciting! I do like games, so I happily went out to the staircase, whereupon I found another note:

Although I just promised a gift here
It won’t be that easy, you know, dear.
Keep on going down
Till you come to the ground
And home of "The Simpsons" is near.

We'll ignore the fact that it told me to "keep on going down," and just look at the clue. Ah, the TV! Excitedly collecting the note, I headed to the living room and looked around the TV. There I found... nothing. Huh? I looked more closely, but no, there was definitely no note for me.

Perplexed, I headed back up to my room, and sat down at my computer. I sent Tpiggy an IM, asking about the game. Was I just stupid? She told me where the note was hidden, but a further inspection showed that the note was definitely gone. Some goober in my house had taken it! To help further the game, Tpiggy typed the clue out to me:

Aha! Now you are getting warmer.
This clue is closer than the former.
By the way, I maintain
That a girl who can play
The piano is surely a charmer.

Okay, excellent, I'm off to the piano now. Fortunately, this clue is there, so the game can continue once more. Here I find:

Now you’ve found me, and so I confess
That you probably didn’t much guess
Since that clue was so plain
(I mean, what I maintained)
But this next's in a bit of a mess.

Okay, I admit that right now, trying to remember, Tpiglette and I are actually mildly stumped as to what this clue was meant to be. We think "mess" referred to "mess hall" and thus was sending me to the kitchen. But we don't totally remember. What we do remember is that this clue, like the one by the TV, was not actually where it was supposed to be. Apparently, my housemates liked to steal limericks that made no sense to them. So, once again, Tpiglette had to type the note to me:

I hope that you don’t think me rude.
I’m not trying yourself to delude.
You will find with the ice
What we think is quite nice
As a certain Miss David’s comfort food.

At this point, I'm a little skeptical, but I head to the freezer. And wouldn't you know it? There was some Haagen-Dazs, with a card signed by my three dear friends. They took time from their busy lives to bring me comfort, in the form of Cheetos, ice cream, and a mini scavenger hunt. I am indeed so blessed to have such wonderful friends.

Happy birthday, Tpiglette. I love you much, now and always.