The Girl on the Radio

 

11:15 am

She came on every day at 11: 15 am stationed at 97.6 FM.

On normal days, I’d very much prefer the television over the radio, as would we all. I mean it is the age of digital and visual representation.

But on that particular day, I tuned in on the radio. I could have the radio playing on the background while I did other stuff around the house. And as luck would have had it, I happened to tune in to this particular station.

Her voice was soothing; that was the very first thing I noticed. It was like the calm after a storm; a voice that you would like to hear from that everything will be okay no matter how messed  up things are. I’m not even kidding: she could probably make the most profane of words sound gentle.

It was the voice of an angel.

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­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­I began to tune in every day.

I’d smile as she made small talk with her callers.

You could visualize her eyes sparkling as she spoke about the most mundane of topics and made it sound like a million dollars.

And she had this phrase while she signed off.

“And remember guys, all it takes is one person to believe in you; to turn your life around.”

Somehow, I always found that inspiring.

If you follow me on social media, you must have seen that I shared a post similar to that a few days ago about one person believing in you.

She is where I got it from.

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It must have been months that I’ve been listening to her. I guess from the lockdown in March. In this virtual age; I was drawn to a voice over a device that most probably do not use these days.

But I had no picture that lead to this voice. I had no idea how this RJ looked: whether she was tall or short; whether she had short hair or long; whether she had dimples on her cheeks.

Nothing.

Nada.

Zilch.

She was a mystery.

But that was what made her more interesting.

You see, she was anything I could imagine her to be.

She was a hope.

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And then one day she shared her story.

You guys must have noticed that I always say this one line “all it takes is one person to believe in you; to turn your life around.”

I stopped what I was doing immediately.

Today I want to share why I say that.

I turned the volume up.

Growing up I always felt alone. I didn’t have much friends and I didn’t have any confidence to make new ones, either. I was an only child of my parents. It was just the three of us.

You’d think it would be really fun and we would be really close that way, but it wasn’t. It was the opposite.

My parents gave me the little attention they had; the rest they used in arguing with each other, while my father used to be home. He spent most of the time away, to ignore my mother, I guess.

I was lost and alone. I was scared of adding problems to my parents’ already problematic life.

We were far from the perfect family that I always wanted us to be.

I pushed back a strand of my hair as I listened in. Her childhood sounded awful!  

I spent most of my time in my room playing with my dolls and my dollhouse. That was the only place where we could be the perfect family.

Then, when I was in the 5^th grade, we had a new teacher that year.

She seemed really nice. She was gentle and warm and there was just this aura around her that made me feel safe.

I didn’t budge an inch as everyone filed out of class when the 3:30 bell rang. I began to take out my homework.

“Aren’t you going home?” she looked up as she shuffled papers at her desk.

“No, my mother can only pick me up at 5:00” I answered.

“Ohh”

There was a long pause.

“So you usually just stay here and do homework?” she threw me another question.

“Yes”

She never asked me another question about it again. Never asked if there was anyone else who could pick me up. Or why I just didn’t take a key and stay home where I could eat something at least. Or if things were okay at home.

She stayed with me every day, after that. Sometimes she’d bring over some snacks that we could munch on. She’d help me with my homework. She would tell me jokes and stories. But mostly, we just talked.

The silent classroom that I stayed in everyday after school was filled with laughter and talking, now.

She build up my confidence; became my shield of support. It wasn’t overnight, but slowly I began to become this whole other person that could open up to people. And I have her to thank.

I could hear the quiver in her voice.

She left our school and moved away when I was in the 7^th grade. And I have no idea where she is, now.

I’ve tried to reach out to her so any times. I’ve looked her up on all kinds of social media; but I could not find her anywhere.

I tried to take her personal information from the records at our school but unfortunately that number is no longer in use and after she moved away, no one knew her new address. I tried at her old location, too.

She took a deep breath.

I’m bringing this up today because I just miss her so much. I miss all the after school hours. Honestly, those were the hours I would wait for all day because I loved spending it with you, Miss. I don’t know if you still remember me.

But if there is any chance you do, just know that that small girl in 5^th grade is really grateful to you for listening to her and being there for her. You were the person that turned her life around and brought some hope in her empty life.

I’m saying this today because even though I do not know where you are, I hope this voice reaches out to you in anyway.

There was another pause and then, a nervous laughter.

I am sorry everyone. I think I got carried away. Anyway, that is the story of why I said “all it takes is one person to believe in you; to turn your life around.”

I bet you all have even better stories of how someone turned your life around. If you do, please call 552…5 and let us know and we will dedicate a song for that one special person who made your life or at least a part of it worthwhile.

There was a beep beep sound soon after.

Looks like we already have a caller here!

Hello?

There was no sound on the other end.

Hello? Hi! Can you hear me?

The caller responded. It was the voice of an old woman.

“I still remember you, dear” she said.

Tears welled up me in my eyes. It was her teacher calling!

There was a gasp on the radio.

“I can’t believe this!” she finally managed to say.

“It’s been a long time, hasn’t it?” the old woman laughed warmly.

I smiled through my tears.

It was that day that I learnt her story. I was glad that she had found someone who listened to her with patience and helped her through it. Everyone deserves that someone. All it takes is one person to believe in you. And more than that, I was happy she was finally reunited with that person.