So I met up with Nezah and Halimah before she left for Canada again. Over years, I realized some of the friends that I’m most comfortable with tend to drift further when it comes to physical distances.


Halimah in Canada. Zein in Germany. Hafiz in Adelaide. Shidah and Liz in Sydney.


Mind you, these are some of my oldest friends I’ve made. (Hafiz holding the longest record of 19 years …goodness, we’ve been places, haven’t we)


Irony of it all is that, I’ve made and lost tonnes of friends along the way, but these folks, as far away as they may be, are still some of them who has very much stayed. Over the years, during those occasions when they actually come back for that fleeting period, nothing beats that feeling of having to know that I’ll get a chance to see them again. (Except for Liz and Shidah whom I’ve not met in ...forever)


And the most amazing, most fascinating about these friends is that, no matter how long we have all been apart, there never was a problem getting along when we meet.


I remembered one night, years ago; - Zein was driving Hafiz and me home after (what I cant remember). It was a couple of months before Zein was supposed to leave the country. We had laughed so much during the drive (something over Gypsy Kings?), and I remembered so starkly how I felt that night. It was such a silent sentiment for me, something that I just let go. I knew then that with one gone, more will follow suit.


And years hop by with no sights of each other.


It then became a privilege to meet.


And when the privileges came for such brief moments, I enjoyed them to the fullest. I sat with Hafiz for a few hours last couple of months ago, and spoke again of our childhood. I had dinner with Zein early this month and I never stopped talking. And the most recent one with Halimah in Tekka where we and Nezah stuffed our faces with naan and briyani in between laughter.


Privileges that make me feel as if we’ve never been away.


Sure, there is nothing much we can do about it. But I can’t help this bittersweet feeling when I typed this down.