Can friendship last?

THERE’S an advice my mother imparted to me when I was still in primary school which, at that point, I could not fully comprehend: “Your friends will change as your grow older, but your family will remain a constant”.

It must have been one of those days a good friend “unfriended” me (oh, children!) and I was upset.

Of course, at nine years old, her words were not as enlightening as when I entered high school and began to watch them become true. Browsing through my friends on Facebook, there are many who despite my hopes of rekindling a connection when adding them to my friends list during university, are just no longer involved in my life.

Some of my childhood friends have also inevitably grown further apart from me.

It was a natural progression as our paths diverge though we consciously create opportunities for our paths to converge, if ever so briefly, now and then.

But what about the friendships that have stood the test of time and distance? As I grew up and life filtered out my best friends for me, I realise there are some friendships that I will readily treat like kinship.

To some extent, they have become a constant in my life, like a sort of gravity that pulls me back to it however much circumstances in my life has changed. Like family.

Ironically also, it is these friends who have gone overseas to study or work, as though life wanted to challenge our friendship.

But we persevere over the years and kept in touch. Creating solid friendships and maintaining the connections have taken on more significance for me as I grow older.

Though, that is not to say then, that the actual family ties can be left on autopilot. But that’s another story altogether.

As my social circles continue to evolve, with university friends moving on and colleagues becoming more than co-workers, I hope I’m moulding new long-lasting friendships.

Although evolving, I also hope these social circles are not shrinking. Ah, it’s a delicate juggle between looking after old friendships and building new ones.

The beauty in this is knowing at the end of the day, it will be worth it. That life will be more meaningful.

With the year approaching into the holiday season soon, or in business terms, the festive last quarter, I wonder who will I be meeting up with come November and December.

My Facebook messages to old friends overseas have promised some long lunches when they touch down on Malaysian soil again.

And though we’ve not seen or spoken to each other much over the months, my heart tells me that we will fan that lambent flame of friendship again, and pick up where we left off.

Or will we? Time to reconnect, I guess.