Tuesday, August 15, 2006

old friend

how do i begin this post? too much thinking and analysing in my life. maybe i should just jump in with both feet and let my feelings bring us along.

today is a very interesting day for me. i was supposed to catch up with an old friend that goes all the way back to primary school. can you imagine meeting up with someone you have not seen for .....*counting fingertips* 21 years? the last time we saw each other, i was probably wearing pig-tails, for goodness sake. pig-tails at 14? okay, maybe i was being a tad melodramatic but it was supposed to be a figure of speech anyway.

back to story. anyway, he was someone that i have totally written off my book as never being able to meet up again. in the movies, you see people bumping into each other after decades apart and you go "no wayyyyy". it is way too corny and fate doesn't always deal you such a fair hand. you usually end up bumping into the class misfit or the one person that you totally want to avoid. yes, i had a couple of those as well. even in the very slim chance that i may have bumped into him on the roads, i will never recognise him. heck, his physical image in my mind's eye is so blurry that i will need high-precision glasses to fine-tune the picture.

but life is strange. and so it was, i had the chance to meet up with a very old friend again today.

it is a very strange feeling. the name itself is very familiar. the sound, however, is alien and the looks even more so. almost as if the face and voice were a total separate entity from the name. i looked at him. no bells were ringing in recognition of the person. all the time a tiny voice in me kept going "sooo, this is how he looks like now". a very itchy curiosity was scratched.

it was a very pleasant lunch, albeit a short one in my opinion, considering that we had 21 years to catch up with. towards the end he did seemed a little eager to dismiss me but i have never been able to understand how this one ticks. was it me? anyway, we walked down memory lane a little and satisfied all the idiotic curiosities that were burning inside me. questions that i never thought would be answered. he may have been perplexed at the non-stop firing squad i was aiming at him, but i consider it close to a miracle that i am at last able to ask these questions that perhaps have been in my unconscious mind for a long time. i have always imagined in that grey cranial temple of mine that there was a doctor walking around bearing his name badge but i couldn't have been further from the truth. it's almost like in the movies, after 'the end', you have this dying curiosity to know what happens after that. i have been given the opportunity to find out about the epilogue.

lately i seem to be meeting up with more and more old friends and each time, i feel very satisfied. almost like i have found some lost treasure. you know what they say, "new friends are like silver but old are like gold". granted, they may or may not be a totally different person from when i knew them and are no more closer in terms of familiarity than the stranger on the road, but i am very happy knowing that each and every one of them are presently healthy and doing well. and hopefully, happy in their life :-)

14 comments:

Las montaƱas said...

its lidat lor.. some people actually feel closer to their close friends, then to their families/spouse.

as one ages, one cherishes the friendships that have lasted through the years!!! And if one were to meet by fate, how happy and wonderful that moment could be!

as one ages, one treasures the friends that are/were there.. in memories, in photos, and eventually in the orbituary pages.

so go out there and call up your ole buddies, will you!!!

me said...

dear lm: but who knows what bad cans of worm we will dig up?! *shivering at the possibilities*

Helen said...

Old school friends are a funny lot. There are some old school mates whom I never spoke a word to all our school life. SOmehow we met again, recognized each other, and started chatting and finding out things I never knew before in their life. :-)

It's especially hard for me becos I'm a very shy person. People think I'm stuckup but I'm just plain shy. Now, having grown out of my shyness abit, I'm more inclined to take the initiative to speak to people. lol

Admin said...

during my last school gathering, so many people whom i don't remember regcognised me. Why? because i have been hauled up during school assembly many times!! hahahahaaa...

may said...

I caught up with an old school friend whom I haven't seen for 18 years, and it certainly was an eye-opener on what we've become... gone are those innocent school days, haha! how adulthood has changed us both...

Wuching said...

did u both had crushes on each other when u were in school?;P

Fantasy "Sticky" Flier said...

I havent seen any of my old school chums recently *wonders why*

Ianfluenza said...

can you imagine meeting up with someone you have not seen for .....*counting fingertips* 21 years? the last time we saw each other, i was probably wearing pig-tails, for goodness sake. pig-tails at 14?

Did you just reveal to the world that you're 35 years old?

Las montaƱas said...

Ian: abish! rule #1, never reveal a gal's age online.

me said...

dear helen: that must have been so nice. well, at least you grew out of your shyness now. otherwise your old friends would have still thought of you as stuck-up :-D

dear ah pek: hahahaha. notorious lah you. why? peeking up the girls' skirt or roaming hands? hahaha.

dear may: hmmmmm....that sounds interesting. maybe you should write and tell us about the eye-opening encounter and what was the difference.

dear wuching: :-)

dear ian: i would have expected that of others but not you. sooo disappointed :-( (joking) actually i have announced the fact that i am 35 several times in my blog. failed to notice that? to me, my age is not a secret.

dear lm: why not? if you're 35, you're 35. nothing to be ashamed about :-) i don't feel old. wellllll, maybe when i stand next to ian, i feel like a grandma :-p

lickoholic said...

Eh! Is the 'seven year itch' creeping slowly in?

me said...

dear licky: huh? no way. we have passed the 7 years by the way. it's just nice to meet up with old friends and be reminded of who and how you were last time :-)

Ianfluenza said...

See, this is what I call aging with grace! Accepting that you have matured shows nothing less than taking pride in what you have become and will become...

So I shall not lie about my age too. I'm 22+! Muahahaha!

LM: I knew everyone's avoiding that comment, and since I'm so fren fren with me, I'll do the dirty job lah! hahahaha!

me said...

dear ian: nahhh, it's just that only a few of my readers are younger than me, so they can't rub it in. unlike mr piggy here who is a whole lunar cycle behind me and is but a mere 22 (have you quit the milk bottle yet? kakakaka. nope, don't see any flying shoes), he finds it amusing.

in the name of friendship

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