Friends

There's this saying "people come, people go. live goes on". Amazing how true that is! We live our lives in stages, but arrive in levels. At different stages of our lives, we surround ourselves with different people. However, most often, when we close on chapter of our lives and move on to the next, we also leave some people behind. We don't bring everyone to the next level of our lives.

I was always an optimist, always wanting to have a lot of friends everywhere. Not so much to appear as being popular, but more so because I am a sociable person, and regard friendship as one of the most important things in my life. I like to be around people--Share lives together, have a good laugh over drinks, celebrate victories and mourn losses together.

But one thing I've realised, over past experiences and over time is that.. truth be told, no matter how hard you want to keep every friendship, and regardless of how hard you try, distance and time seems to change things. Either people change, or you change, or simply because of geographical distances, we move on. We hang out with new circle of friends, expand our social network, and before we even realise it, we've left some people behind already. That's the sad truth about friendship.

Although that all seems so depressing, there's always a silver lining in everything. I'm glad to say that although I've left behind some friendships that were not worth keeping, or some relationships that turned sour.. I've also made friends that can last the distance. These are the people who are closest to my heart, and love me for who I am. Despite my flaws, my shortcomings and my imperfections, they still love me. These are the people I can be vulnerable to, and share my hearts out with.

A good example is how I see some friends only for 2-3 months every year during summer break, and sometimes we even hardly ever talk over the year, but once we meet up, its like we're back at where we last left off. Things still feel the same, we can still laugh at each other, and have the best of times together. These are the people I can see myself still hanging out with when I'm 30, 40, or even 50 and after retirement, still laugh and joke around with over a cup of coffee or a round of beer.

Someone once said friends are live elevators, they either bring you up, or bring you down. I'm glad to know that I've been blessed with such good friends. Thanks guys! You know who you are ;)



Muchos <3
Joel