FRIENDS WILL GROW APART

I'm sure all of us would have encountered many goodbyes in our lives. Starting from different stages of schooling when we have to bid farewell to people we have spent a few years with, to friends we meet in different cities and countries when its time for us to move on. Some of us might even have encountered bidding farewell to our boyfriends or girlfriends due to circumstances such as education or work commitments.

I remember when I had to leave my puppy love to travel abroad for continuing education and all the pledges we made to one another, only to find that we've grown apart after only a few months. There are marriages which fall apart after the spouses have to "temporarily" separate in pursuit of their respective careers. There are good friends who used to chat through the night but find that the much longed-for rendezvous after a few years' separation ended up with nothing more than trivial banters and impersonal exchanges, a far cry from those "close-at-heart" nightly chats of the yesteryears.

Nothing lasts forever except for the memories of a person or persons whom we've had the opportunity to cross paths with.

Sure we'll remember our ex-schoolmates as they were. Sure we'll remember those colleagues whom we've worked with before, as well as all the other friends we made along the way. But the relationship with them will never be the same again after a period of separation.

But memories aren't bad things to hang on to. At least they're finite and real as opposed to any current relationships or friendships with unknown endings. We don't know which of our present friends will betray us one day, or become "enemies" or "adversaries" in some aspect of our lives. But we know for sure that no matter what happens, the fond memories of a friendship or relationship will withstand the test of time, for all humans tend to forgive at the end of the day. Which is why being human is such a precious gift.

I recently "found" a friend whom I've lost contact with for several years. The long distance call to him a few thousand miles away was cordial and full of the reminiscing anyone would have expected. But did that make us the same persons we were before we lost touch? But is that important? No, I said to myself. That phone call meant so much in that I knew I had not lost contact with a friend.

I still have many regrets about having lost touch with a lot of friends in my life. Hopefully I might be able to make up for some of that as the cyberworld presents plenty of opportunities to track people down wherever they are on this planet. But, no matter what, memories of those mud fights and football games with the then-schoolmates, some of whom I can't even attach a name to, will always be fonder than actually having a cup of tea or a beer in the unlikely event of a rendezvous.