Cream Soup in a Paper Cup

This is for you, Sherry.
Ever wonder whether I would send you a letter or not? You probably never did. I actually would, though. Just a little reminiscing of last year I would write you, about the simple talk we used to have, that in fact we occasionally still do until today.

So, where have we been? No, where have I been? Sure things get better for me day by day, I no longer am bothered by the struggling I had been doing since February last year. Everything has run smoothly. I finally move on, or at least I finally accept things that I can never change. The world that I thought was conspiring against me, as the day turns, has finally treated me better. People around me also take part. Some people don’t even realize that they help me see the world better just by becoming who they are. Some others are just way too nice to describe; they listen. One of them is you.

To think of it, I probably bored you to craziness by telling you the painful chapter of my story in 2011. I shouldn’t have started, but I blamed you though. You should have just told me if you were sleepy and couldn’t help but trying hard not to yawn every time I started sharing you the same dull story over and over again. You did listen to me, again, I don’t think you can blame for that. It was you who asked me first; asked me what was wrong; asked me what happened. So, I blame you for that. Of course, I’m just kidding. I actually thank you for that. I thank you for asking me that. I totally had no idea that pain inside could show on the outside. Never had I imagined that broken part could be so physically reflected. It must be so obvious that you asked.

So there it went, the beginning of my long story-telling thing. Before that began, we used to talk about other things, juicy gossip or simply unimportant details about our fellow teachers. Then the topic changed, and you know why. I started rambling about how suffering I was from an unrequited love, and you did nothing but listened. I cant imagine how you actually felt at that time. I probably acted so selfish over our conversations. It was at me myself because I thought I felt so useless at that time, no words seemed adequate and no action that I could take would make the slightest difference to the outcome. Talking to you however has made it different. Not too poles apart, but at least it was relieving for me. How selfish can one get? Ah well, here I am, rambling again. Old habit dies hard.

It’s been a while since the last time we had a conversation over things, silly things. Silly things referred to my stories and me, of course. I remembered we used to hang out just to talk over such craps. Hanging out and having small talk in the teachers’ room and sometimes at the fast-food corner near the office too. I remembered you brought me that cream soup in a paper cup once in a while and we started having a conversation about the same topic afterwards.

I’m glad I now have recovered from that complicated broken heart. I’m glad that now everything goes well. Time and good friends are a good combination to help people move on. I’m glad I’ve got both. I’ve got time to help me mend the broken part, and I’ve got some good friends to help me through thick and thin. It’s no wonder if one of those good friends is you. You’ve been such a good listener. You barely bother me with advices, but if I ask your opinion, you give me perspective. And you’ve done it all by just being who you are. No judging is ever involved, no question is ever asked, no feedback is ever required. It’s a wonder how we have done it all in each various conversation we have over cream soup in a paper cup. Others may enjoy having conversation over cups of coffee, but we have it over paper cups of cream soup. It’s been a while since the last time we had that cream soup in a paper cup. Let’s have some talk soon. Different topic, same cream soup. Cream soup in a paper cup.

People expect too much or expect too little, have too much hope or too little. Why can’t they just sit and talk to their friends for another perspective about what they’re going through? For some people, friends and a cup of coffee help enough. For me, it’s a friend and a paper cup of cream soup.


February 8, 2012
― A Fellow Cream Soup-Addict


A Tribute to @sherry1424