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Saturday, October 25, 2014

Old Friends Are Gold

Getting together with dear old friends is always a great pleasure, no matter where they are, back home here or abroad. Below is a picture of three of us, Jennifer who is a former student and now a good friend. Our boys were classmates in school! She's now a good sounding board when I need another view. On my left is Yu Ling, a dear and close friend.

                                                                 Jennifer, myself and Yu Ling

 Companionship and trusty friends of long standing are a must in one’s life especially as one gets on in years. Sometimes it is only to bosom friends that you can share matters of the heart. Yu Ling and I go back a long way, ever since her daughter was a tiny baby in her arms and now that little baby is a mother herself to a cute and bouncy one year old boy.  Time has gone past, so swiftly, like the water under the bridge flowing out to the sea. Time gone can never be redeemed.

Our children, once small, are now adults with their own lives, away from us but the precious bond of our friendship remains, to paint new rainbows in our lives.

I remember when I was a young teacher, fresh out of college, posted to teach in a convent school that had high walls enclosing it. No cars were allowed to enter the grounds and the headmistress was a very intimidating Irish nun who wielded iron discipline and control over teachers and students. She didn’t believe in outdoor sports and I was given physical education (PE) classes to teach. She said I had to teach folk dancing and if I didn’t know how to dance, I jolly well had to go and learn!

Luckily there were folk dancing classes in those days at the Royal Selangor Club in Kuala Lumpur during the weekends so faithfully I learned a few folk dances, largely Scottish and Irish and taught them to the girls in school. However these days, I cannot for the life of me remember the steps and sequences in line dancing, the current trend among men and women.

Cheng Fong is now a resident in Australia and we meet only when I visit. We were friends when we taught in the same school. Later when I took my daughter to Melbourne where she was to study, Cheng Fong opened her home to us, giving up her room and also letting me have the use of her car. I used to send her to the station to catch the train to work and then I had the car to go wherever I wished.

I recently went to visit and our friendship picked up as if there had not been so many intervening years apart.

It's so wonderful to have good friends and keeping in touch with them is ever so pleasurable.

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