I was back in Timisoara in 2014, three years after I thought I said goodbye to the city for good. I was starting from scratch in the same city I spent six years studying and having fun and being in love. But now everything was different. Friends got married, others moved away, some were busy with new friends and I didn’t have a boyfriend anymore. I was 29 and didn’t know how to make friends or how to be on my own.
You see, as I grew up, Sundays were about going to church in the morning and after having lunch together – the four of us. Most of the time we had cake for desert– the “something sweet for the soul” as the Germans say. In university, when I lived away from my parents, my Sundays were spent with my ex’s family. But now, all of the sudden, I was supposed to prepare lunch. By myself. And I didn’t like cooking. I was annoyed every Sunday for eating by myself. Until one day, when Livia invited me to eat at her mom’s. And although I’ve been to their place many times before, it was something new for me.
Livia is the sister of a dear friend of mine, so after the first lunch invitation we started talking more. Mostly because I felt I was part of a family again. I felt loved again, I felt I matter to someone. But this new feeling wasn’t attributed to the fact that my family didn’t love me anymore. It was a new situation I needed to get used to. I didn’t want to do so. I didn’t like change, I liked how things were before, when I was happy - when I was in love and my mom was still alive. But luckily for me, someone opened their arms and their home to me, and I was eating delicious food again.
And one day Livia called me with a proposition: “Let’s meet and I will take some pictures of you. It will be fun. I promise.” She knew how shy I was in front of the camera, she knew it will be a lot of work and how much patience she will need. We spent three hours and not only she made me laugh out loud, but she reminded me I was pretty. She helped me regain confidence, she built up my self-esteem that was shattered to the core a year before.
I changed my profile picture on Facebook soon after our photo session and people told me I have a beautiful smile. Then three months later I used two pictures for an online dating app and I met someone. Three years later I used another picture for my resume and got the job of my dreams. And now I use another photo for the “About me” section at this blog. Ok, you might think – she did an amazing job. She did indeed. But she did it for free, because back then we were friends.
And now? Now we are still connected on Facebook, we talk on the phone and she’s there for me whenever I need her. We are not longer friends, we are sisters - and I couldn’t be more thankful for her being part of my life for so many years.
If you want to put a face to a name, you can follow her on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/livia_mihut/
and check her new work here: