Nostalgia

A few days ago, I met up with an old friend who I’ve known since our university days together. That was over 30 years ago! Even writing that figure here seems surreal. How is it possible that so many years have gone by? To think of all the things each of us have achieved, explored or simply lived through in that time…

Alhamdulillah, it was wonderful to catch up even though our individual paths make it less possible to be in touch as often as we’d like. On average, we’ve been able to meet once a year which seems pathetic and perhaps it is. However, we both know the intention is always there and once we are in each other’s company, we can simply continue from where we left off. There are few friendships where this can happen so effortlessly.

But in that conversation last weekend, my friend mentioned how she had accidentally stumbled on some old photos from our graduation day. (This was what had prompted her to call me in the first place.) Amongst the people in the photos she has, she is now only in contact with myself and one other person. Over the years, it was inevitable that some of those old-time friends would have disappeared and the years would have made the friendships more tenuous. People get married, find jobs, move on and away and life takes over. And we know that one of our mutual friends sadly had even passed away at a young age of 32 leaving behind a young family.

So, in that context, it is pretty special that the two of us have maintained a link over the years. I myself have lived abroad for several years and in different countries. Even when I was living in the UK, it wasn’t always in London. So, to have kept that link alive through mutual effort is something I definitely cherish. It’s taken effort on both sides and is the reason why we have succeeded in keeping up-to-date with each other’s news even across thousands of miles.

Today, to think our own ‘children’ are now older than the ages at which we first met, is something. I don’t look back with sadness. Not at all. Instead, I am grateful for the life I have lived and all the things I have experienced along the way, good and seemingly bad. And I deliberately add the word, “seemingly”, because I know that with my narrow understanding of things, what I might deem as negative is, in fact, perhaps the best thing that could have happened to me.