Love your neighbor

As I walked up to my apartment on Monday I glanced up at the window above. Dark. The blinds were pulled and the green and white for rent sign sat in the window. They're gone, I thought. I had spent so many free afternoons in that apartment, marching and banging pots and getting my nails done. I couldn't believe that there wasn't even a couch there anymore.

When I first moved to Columbia, I was pretty lonely. I knew people from class, but was still wary of spending all my time with them and my new roomie and I couldn't have been on more different schedules. Every afternoon I walked to the gym to run on the treadmill and sit by the pool to study. I had never before been lonely and bored enough to go to the gym. I would put down my notecards, close my eyes and feel the sweat drip down my back as I thought of what Megyn, Brooke, Christina, Ashley, all my friends from Charleston were doing and wondered if I'd ever make friends like that again.

"I'll start praying for a friend for you. That you'll have one good friend Mamie. You just need one. You don't need a whole group, you just need one friend that you can hang around with and then you can meet new people together." Megyn was in a new place too so we talked a lot about the art of making new friends. When I envisioned meeting my one new friend as I sat by the pool procrastinating my anatomy notecards, I always saw myself laughing with some mystery girl, going out to dinner, strolling through Target. Always with this girl.

I met Orlando last summer. He needed to borrow a microphone for a computer or something very un-cup of sugarish. I thought he was great immediately because he was from Peru and he talked to me and wasn't scared to ask for a favor, or do a favor for that matter. It wasn't long before Orlando became my "vertical roommate" and I found myself wandering up to chat with him when I was bored. I couldn't have been more excited when he told me his wife and son, Cecilia and Gabriel, were coming. "December 20th." He said and I marked it in red in my planner. But I wondered how much things would change ... would I still get to hang out with Orlando, would his wife like me, would she hang out with me and let my play with the little boy? Now I can't believe they didn't get tired of me as much as I showed up uninvited.

The day after Valentine's day I walked upstairs to deliver my Valentine's treats to Orlando and Cecilia. It had been a long day and I still had to go to class at 5:30.
"Hola Mamie!" Kiss Kiss Hug Hug. "Come in. Come in. Siéntate." Cecilia went into the bedroom to get Gabriel.
"Mamie sit down." Orlando guided my toward the loveseat, where I plopped, and sat down facing me on the table. "Are you ok?"
I stopped rubbing my eyes and looked up at Orlando. I had no idea what to say.
"We've been worried about you because we haven't seen you in so long. And every time I see you at work you seem really tired or sad or something."
I felt that wave that comes right before you tear up. I couldn't remember the last time anyone had asked, just to know, how I was doing, if I was ok. Cecilia and Gabriel came back into the den just in time to hear me unload all the stuff that had been brewing around in my mind for months. As I talked Gabriel walked over and stood by my knee. "Mimi. Mimi" I looked at him holding a little red velvety bag.
"Para ti" Cecilia motioned for me to take it. A beautiful green and brown necklace spilled out into my palm, exactly what I would have chosen. I felt the cry wave again.
"Thank you guys so much." I draped it around my neck as Gabriel reached to touch the beads. "You guys didn't have to do this."
"We wanted to, Mamie. We love you."

Chrissy says I'm obsessed with my neighbors because I talk about them all the time. She says she would be freaked out if she were them. I stopped trying to explain to her why I can't help but talk about them. I think it must be a cultural thing, but Americans just aren't getting it. Love your neighbor as yourself. I was looking all over for a friend and I found the people that made me feel at home in my life here in Columbia. I never doubted that they loved me. Megyn's words came back to me. I'll pray for a friend for you. All you need is one. I was always sure it would be a girl my age, but God must like Megyn a lot because I got way more than one and way more than friends.

Cecilia and Gabriel left the apartment Saturday to fly back to Peru, leaving only Orlando's heavy footsteps above me. And then Monday morning, as I left for my practicum, Orlando left his apartment empty and dark to go to Europe with school. I drove down Bull Street thinking about how 705B would be empty when I got back. It made me sad, but I remembered how Jesus talked about neighbors. He was pretty clear about this: Neighbors don't always live next door. That doesn't mean you can't love them.

Orlando and Cecilia. My beautiful neighbors!


Me and Gabriel


It should also be noted that Orlando also introduced me to lots of excellent people that I consider neighbors from his grad program, some who are my physical neighbors like Joe and Paco and some who I just consider "neighbors" like Lourdes and Adrian. I got really lucky in the neighbor department!

And lastly: Today is Orlando's birthday! So if you're in Germany by some random chance (haha ... I'm sure that will be likely!) and run into him, please give him a birthday hug and a punch on the arm for me.