A Surprise From the Past

Covid-19 pandemic has taught us all that distance can be overcome with love and holding each other close to our heart no matter the long miles between us. However, sometimes distance is not only physical but also temporal. The truth is, sometimes just life happens. We all have this once very close friend who we could not see or spend time with anymore. Although we sometimes think of them or miss them, we do not give them a call. Perhaps we are afraid of the awkward silence, or maybe they are not the same person anymore, so are we. The story of Emily and Cecilia shows that a real friendship will survive, even silently, regardless of all those years apart. The only thing it takes is a tiny step to revive what is already in there.

Emily woke up from a peaceful but somehow sour dream. She saw Cecilia, her childhood best friend in that dream. They were young again and strolling in the park they always used to go together. Cecilia was crying and trying to tell Emily something, but she could not understand her. She had a sinking feeling, thought perhaps something bad had happened to Cecilia for real. They had not heard from each other for years now. Since Emily’s family moved out from the town, they sent letters to one another a couple of times. And, that was it. She had to find out where Cecilia was and contact her. Lost in her thoughts, Emily got startled with her daughter Jane’s voice. She had to get ready for work and give Jane a lift. However, she had made her mind: She would find Cecilia.

That night after work she went online and surfed on social media. Thanks to Cecilia’s rare family name, she managed to find her with no hustle. She looked at her pictures and saw that she had given birth recently and had a beautiful family. Her eyes filled with tears of joy and nostalgia. She opened the message box and started to type. However, she could not find the right words. She kept writing and deleting for a while. Cecilia was someone really special to her, although their lives had led them to different paths. They had shared all their secrets, talked about their crushes at school and complained about their parents to each other. So, it was not that easy to write to her after all those years. Suddenly she had an idea. She went back to Cecilia’s profile and kept looking at her pictures. When she recognized a familiar face, she stopped and zoomed in. It was Kate, their common friend from the neighborhood. The photo was new and it was shot at Cecilia’s house, as far as Emily could tell from the other photos. Emily figured out that the two were still in contact. And Kate knows Cecilia’s address! That was it! Emily would surprise her best friend with a special gift to put an astonished smile on her face. She would learn her address from Kate and ship the gift to her house. That would be the surprise of a lifetime. All she needed to find was the right gift that would speak for itself. That was then she thought of the custom best friend mugs by Amazing Items. Hers was given by one of her besties for her birthday. She remembered how much she loved that mug and thought Cecilia had to have her own from Emily. That would be a real special gift. She customized the best friends on the mug based on their own looks: a curly brunette for Emily and a blonde for Cecilia, given in the pictures that she had gone blond. She added their names and a meaningful quote at the other side of the mug: “Good friends are like stars, you don’t always see them but you know they are there”. As a note, she had put her phone number and address.

After a short while, Emily’s phone rang one day. It was Cecilia’s voice! She was crying and Emily also began to cry. The two best friends went back to those childhood years at an instant. With that tiny but thoughtful step they got together again and began to call one another. Now they look forward to having dinner at Emily’s house once the pandemic is over. For now they settle with online video calls full of laughter and memories from the old days. They sip their tea from the best friend mugs with their hearts warm just like the tea they have.