fRieNdShiP

The most momentous day in my life happened in today when I rekindled my friendship with my best friend from my teenage years. We had drifted apart after Standard Six when we went to different secondary school. I was so overwhelmed with my newly-found freedom then I couldn’t find any time to keep in touch with her, much less with anyone else.

It was only when I was cleaning out my room one day when I found old photograph of Siew Ling and myself. Then memories of all good times we had shared started flooding back. She had been the one who consoled me when I faced difficulties. I knew then that I have to contact her.

Feeling a bit jittery, I dialed her house phone number. After a few rings, I heard a voice saying hello. I knew it was Siew Ling. She sounded more mature, of course, but I could never the voice. We agreed to meet at the Café at 7:30 p.m. that night.

Soon I found myself sitting opposite her, drinking coffee. The first ten minutes were strained but before we knew it, we were busy chatting. It was just talk about our studies, our friends and so on, but we were connecting as if the past six years of non-contact had never happened.

It was as if a magic wand had touched the dusty relationship and made it fresh and shiny again. Renewing a friendship can be an intricate process especially when both of us had neglected to keep in touch with each other but somehow we regained it in those three hours. We shared our ups and downs, jokes about the good old times, and wondered how we could have let ourselves drift apart.

Talking with her was very comforting and it suddenly dawned on me why I had been so close with her. Now, more than ever, I realized that she was a great listener, letting me be myself without judging me.

Being with Siew Ling was very different from going out with the casual friend I have now. The evening ended on a light note. We both agreed to keep in contact more often. That evening was very meaningful and I went to bed feeling like the luckiest person on earth.

I had learnt that one should not take friends for granted but what made the day extra special was the day extra special was that we found each other again.