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As the years trickle by I've come to know many people (too many in fact!) and counted some of them in as friends who are in many ways indispensable in my daily existence. The scenarios with which many of them have entered my life have been as varied as the permutations with which any writer can draw his plots from, it's just simply too vast to cover all of them. With the friends I have collected, few people have come to inspire me greatly. But one person who I felt should have been marked as a major source of inspiration has been in my life for a really long time albeit he has gone in and out of it at various points.
I shall call him V here for reasons of anonymity. We were classmates when I was in high school and he is fantastic to be with. He is talkative, funny, hopelessly gay and cooperative and noisy. We had lost in common like the love for showbiz personalities, cartoons, and the love to be active. Although I could never really compare our closeness to that of brother and sister, nevertheless we have been buddies for the longest time. He suffered some form of polio on his right leg when he was very young so while he was growing up he learned to walk with his left leg as his base leg and in a way dragged his right leg as a result. This did not deter him in any way though. We played hours and hours of tag and many other games during free times at school. His physical disability melted when we were in the playground. He was just as able and as fast as anyone during our games.
In high school, any major source of scrutiny especially when it came to appearance often became the object of much teasing and poking fun at. Of course if you acted and looked different you subjected yourself to some form of entertainment for the bullies. I don't know though with V, he managed to dodge these spears of petty teasings with an unidentifiable wit which never really seemed to bother him. He would retort insults with more effective forms of non-offensive verbiage. It came so naturally to him it was quite amusing to watch. What more likely happened if somebody poked fun at him was the transgressor ended up looking idiotic when V hurled back with his clever retorts. It's either V has developed a very effective mechanism or he is just a natural-born fighter. He will not let anybody or anything bring him down - not negativity, not bickerings and certainly not the physical advantage of other people. He is admirable for me in so many ways.
I never really pondered on this reality until more recent times when I spent some time with him and high school friends during the Valentine's day period this year. We rented a small house in the beach and caught up on the latest. It had been years since we last met and when we met the usual flurry of screamings and teasings all done in good humor peppered our conversations. It was funny and beautifully nostalgic to be back in high school at least in prose. We talked about old classmates and the funniest scenarios we were ever in when we were younger, silly and insane. It was a heady experience and I loved every minute of it! I wish we could do this on a more regular basis!
The reason why I innately enjoyed being with him again is I think I wanted to relive the days of innocence and lackadaisical living. I was so happy during that time and had no regard for the ills of the world. Also I was looking at him as a well-spring of inspiration for me throughout the years which was only realized very recently. He is a character I will cherish as a friend for life, the moments we spent together will forever be pearls drawn together in a necklace I will place in a jewelry box called my happiest moments....
