FRIENDSHIP BEYOND TIME...

Hello everyone! I hope everyone is in good health and doing well.
I just want to share what friendship means to me.

I grew up as an introvert type of person because my parents were separated and I grew up living from one relative to another since my mother was working trying to be a mother and a father at the same time. I even developed an inferiority complex that is why mingling with my classmates and having friends was very hard for me. Added to that was being transferred from one school to another depending where my mother was working.

On my second year high school I was transferred to Binan and studied at Grinhar College and it is there that I met my long lasting friends.

Since I was a transferee, I was again back to being alone with no friends in this school. I engrossed myself to studying during my free time while my other classmates were busy chatting with their group of friends. For them I portrayed being an aloof person and a loner that is why they never approached me.

It was only my classmate Dories who was brave enough to approach me and ask me about our lesson. It simply started that way and soon we began talking about other things. She then introduced me to her other friends and classmates. From then on I began to have friends and my life was now happier. We even named our group Shy Girls and we are 7 in the group. But I'm still selective with my friends and the ones I developed deep friendship with are Dories, Rosita and Fe.

We four became inseparable, we ate together and studied together. I have now friends that I can share my inner thoughts, secrets, my problems and also my happiness. It was a nice feeling that I now have someone I can rely on besides my mother and not feeling alone.

Graduation came and it was a happy and sad moment for us. Happy because we can now go to College, sad because we are now going to be separated. We went to different schools to take up our respective courses. No more communication from each one of us. Because during that that time there were no cellphones yet.

It was only when I got married and stayed in Binan again that I had the time to visit Rosita in her house who was then married also. We had a long conversation trying yo catch up on our lost time. She informed me that Fe was staying in Japan also married and Dories was back in Binan.

I then visited Dories who became a teacher in our former school and was also married. We did some catching up on what happened to our lives. Best thing about our friendship is that whenever we meet we converse as if no time has passed between us. We are always comfortable with each other and we always say what we want to say.

After that incident the communication about my friends was totally cut off. We have been busy with our own families to take care of and we have been separated also by distance and as I've mentioned earlier no cellphones yet and facebook that time.

It was only last year when I tried checking the names of my best friends in Facebook. Yes! I now have a facebook account and a cellphone too. What triggered my search was because of my college friend who was then searching all our classmates in college thru facebook. She was so glad because she found me and according to her it was not easy because I am using now the surname of my husband. Good thing my husband was also our classmate in college and she remembered his surname that is why she was able to trace me.

So back to my high school friends I then started searching their names in facebook. The first one I searched was Rosita. Luckily I found her name because her maiden name was in it and I saw her picture. I messaged her if she still remembered me because it has been several decades that we haven't had any communication. Next one was Dories which I messaged also. There was no response so I thought that maybe they had already forgotten me because a long time has already lapsed.

Then after two days I was surprised to see a message from Rosita saying that "Of course I remember you". She then told me that she had apprehension of answering me back immediately because when they had our high school reunion they had been trying to contact me and my where about and did not find me. The news that came to them was that I already died that is why they were lonely on the reunion. She thought I was a ghost or a prankster who messaged her in facebook so it took her two days before she answered me back. We were laughing so hard about it.

When she verified that I am still alive and kicking she then messaged our group Shy Girls and our other classmates informing them that the news they received was incorrect. After that, messages from my former classmates poured in. They were so happy to know that I'm still alive and they are planning to have another HS reunion after this pandemic.

But the most I'm happy about is once again the communication from my best friends had been opened. We are now back with each other's company. Even distance can no longer separate us because of the modern technology that we have.

The four of us are now complete. We scheduled a video chat and for the first time after several decades we saw each other live and we talked for four hours catching up on each others lives. Dories is now teaching in Riyadh, Fe in Japan, Rosita in Binan and me here in Metro Manila. They were reprimanding me because according to them I did not give them any hint of my whereabouts. They could not contact me because my name in FB was different since I was using the surname of my husband. I told them that I am not active in FB and I just use the messenger for important messages. And then we all laughed because they were joking that they really thought I was already dead messaging them in FB. As usual whenever we meet there was always no barrier between all of us. We always talk like we used to during high school days without restrictions as if no time has passed between us.

then Rosita and I had a chance to meet this year when my daughter in law was hospitalized in Sta Rosa where Rosita is staying. We scheduled a meet up before the discharge of my daughter in law near the hospital. We were so happy o see each other. Our only regret is the limited time that we had because I cannot leave my daughter in law for a long time and visitors are not allowed in the hospital. But we promised to see each other once this pandemic is over.

I can say that our friendship is one of a kind. We have different religious beliefs but it did not hinder us in becoming close to each other. Because we respected each other's opinion and beliefs. Our friendship has passed the test of time and distance. We do not talk who is the most successful one amongst us or who is the richer one. For us we are all equal and the most important one is seeing each other again even thru video calls and conversing again after all these years.

We are now continually messaging and having video calls if our schedule permits thanks to the new technology. Dories and Fe are planning to go back to the Philippines so that we can have our reunion. We even planned what we will do once they arrive but due to pandemic it was postponed.

We are still not losing hope that one day, the four of us will be given a chance to be united again in the future and be able to hug each other. And also reminisce the good old days.