Article

This archived article was written by: Morgan Verdi

Making friends isn’t easy. Getting to know a person takes time, which is something not many students have. Then there is the matter of all the effort that must be put forth to make a friendship work. Next, the issue of trust always plays a part. Unfortunately, sometimes all the high school drama carries into college, and friendships that you once had can no longer be there. With all of these factors that play against making friends, what is a student to do?
I can say from experience, if you put yourself out there, you can make friends and most of the time you find friends in the most unexpected people. I’ve made friends out of enemies and found enemies in friends, but I’d like to write about two people I call true friends. Their names are Henry and Nadine. Our friendship isn’t typical. We didn’t really “hit it off” from the beginning, but that didn’t stop the friendship from building and becoming something truly special.
I met Henry and Nadine from their daughter, Pat, who I worked with. Pat wanted to have someone come in and clean for them. Did I mention Henry is 89 and Nadine is 87? Like I said, not a typical friendship. Pat felt like they needed help cleaning their house, so she invited me over without telling them. Nadine was insistent that she didn’t need help. She didn’t necessarily, the house was spotless, but it was hard on her to do things like vacuum and clean the floors.
However, they didn’t want assistance, so I accepted that and said goodbye, thinking that was the end of that. A few months later, I noticed Pat looked exhausted. I asked her if she was okay and she told me her mother was sick, very sick. The next day she told me that her mother was in the hospital and things weren’t looking good for her. My heart went out to her, I wished so much that I could do something to help.
A short time later, Pat told me her mom was going home, but that her dad Henry needed help with the house. I told her I would do whatever I could to help, though I was a bit hesitant because of the first time I went there, but went anyway. When I saw Nadine she was sick, very sick. I couldn’t help but wonder how is this the same woman I met just a few short months ago? Henry told me what they needed done and I did it, Nadine slept most of the time.
I came back the next week and did a few more things for them. As I was cleaning, Henry asked if I could sit with Nadine for an hour while he ran to town, I told him that was fine and he left. I finished cleaning and sat down with Nadine, though she was still quite sick, she visited with me. We got to know each other.
Over the next few times I went to their house, Nadine and I grew closer and closer. She soon became the person that knew everything about me. I told her everything and she told me stories that taught me lessons I’ll never forget. Henry noticed the friendship growing too, he would chime in every once in a while with a funny remark. Nadine started to get better, healthier, yet she didn’t tell me to stop coming. We became best friends.
To this day I go to clean for them every other week. She always says, “I guess they thought I was going to die, if I was that bad off I don’t know why they didn’t let me go.” And I smile and say, “Nadine you couldn’t die because we had to become friends first.”
She smiles and hugs me. My life is so much richer with Henry and Nadine. I love both of them dearly. I am thankful that I opened myself up to the idea of an untypical friendship, because it’s one of the best friendships I’ve ever had. Never write people off because it goes to show, you can make friends in the most unlikely places.