Friends

Last night, I had dinner with Jane and the rest of the MISA people at UCC. I guess you could say that it was Jane’s welcome back dinner. She came back from Hongkong last Tuesday to take a short respite from her hectic work, which I think she badly needed. I’m so happy to see her. It’s been more than two months since we’ve last seen each other. Though I don’t really feel her absence that much because we constantly have updates on each other anyway via our weekly digests with Krizia. I had a good time even if we didn’t get to spend the whole night away since we all had work the next day. It is always nice to just talk, have coffee, and catch up on things with friends. It’s funny how I am beginning to value more the friendships I have now. It’s not that I don’t before, but it’s just that I’m beginning to value them more than ever now. With school being over and each one of us already off to our own separate ways, I don’t know…but I’m beginning to miss the company. Yeah, people would probably be surprised to hear me saying this, but I really do. I find it sad when some friendships cannot withstand the change…seeing the many years that it took to build the relationship all going to waste. I believe effort and communication is important. Without it, the friendship will not be able to survive, much less thrive successfully. I may have lost touch with a couple of good friends, but I’m glad I still get to maintain the friendships I have with some of my closest friends now.

Speaking of close friends, I find it hard these days to be friends with anyone. When I say friends, I mean it in the truest sense of the word FRIEND. Not acquaintance. Not colleague or associate…but someone whom you can be comfortable with and call as your sister or brother…your confidant, your partner in crime, your best friend. Meeting new people is easy. But it’s what you do after the usual “Hi’s”, “Hello’s”, and “Nice to meet you’s” that’s really more important. Most of the time, I meet different kinds of people some of whom I see everyday, while some whom I rarely get to see, and even some whom I get to meet that day only and will never get to see ever again. Yes, they’re nice and friendly. But that’s all there is to it. By the end of the day, they’re just mere faces in a sea of strangers. You don’t know the story of their lives...and sometimes the hell you care right? You don’t know what’s going on their minds. You don’t know their problems. You know nothing. Nada. Nill. Zilch. There are quite a number of interesting people who have crossed my path but whom I never got the chance to know and be friends with and for that matter, to even know their names. I don’t know if it was because of the circumstances during that time or perhaps the lack of courage needed to follow through on it. Whatever reason it is, I regret those missed chances. Now I understand why they say true friends are like diamonds…rare, hard to find, and priceless.