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Monday, 30 April 2012

Am I Heartbroken or Happy?

Sounds like an obvious question, right?  But I am genuinely confused and emotional.  Here's why:

I have a friend, a middle-aged woman as most of my friends seem to be, who works at the coffee shop in the university.  She has been off sick for a considerable amount of time; around 9 months I think, with severe anxiety.  It was caused by the management at the union, even I could see that as a customer.  Anyway, I missed her a lot, because we got on really really well.  We had been on a night out, and would often spend ages just chatting away to each other in the coffee shop.  I hadn't seen her in about 6 months (she came back for a short amount of time, then broke down again).  I was only thinking yesterday about how much I missed her, because I am only in uni for another week, then I am finished for good.  I realise she would not be back at work in this short space of time.  That's hard enough for anyone to accept, but I have attachment issues; I have stronger-than-normal feelings towards friends, therefore it hurts a lot if there is some reason they are not in my life anymore.

I'm even taking my time writing this so I don't start crying in public.

By amazing chance, I was walking to the coffee shop, and I saw her walking towards me.  There really was no chance of this happening, as I hear from mutual friends that she is struggling to leave the house.  OMG I just was so unbelievably happy to see her!  She smiled too and we just hugged for ages.  She was shaking so much, which is when I realised how unwell she still is.  I asked how she was and why she was in the uni, and she said she was asking about coming back.  This broke my heart.  There is no way she would manage working in the state she was in.  When I spoke to the other woman from the coffee shop, she told me my friend had just had an anxiety attack.  So, I was chatting to her about health, finishing uni etc, and I was just struggling to hold it together.  I can't believe what mental illness has done to her.  She was significantly smaller than she was before; this woman was already tiny!  She was pale, quiet, and shaking so much.  I just hugged her more, and said over and over how much I missed her.  I could tell she just wanted to get back to her car, so I said my goodbyes and let her go.

I'm not sure if you all understand my emotions on this one.  I am so happy to have seen her again, but so very heartbroken at how ill she is.  :'(  I don't have her phone number, so I fear that is the last I will hear from her. 

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