Oh Dathan, How long has it been? 5? 8? or 10 years? I don't know, but it's been so long since we last crossed paths.
The day we first met? I don't remember. And God to this day I feel like a bad friend for that. But it happens, I guess. All I remember was that we were classmates. It wasn't an immediate friendship it just happened. I can't really pinpoint when it happened either. It was like magic. I just woke up one day and you were my close friend. And before we knew it we decided we'd take the best friends tag instead.
We both went to school in your mum's car since our houses weren't far apart, we shared everything together even the memories of playing football together with Bobo juice container. We were the ultimate team then.
I remember wanting to go to your house every day just so we could play. on your swing, football, hide and seek in your backyard, there was also the Xbox and the PS3 loaded with lots of cool games so the options for fun were limitless. Of course, my parents didn't allow me to go as much as I wanted, but I got to visit a lot of times when I was a good boy.
You were always the outspoken one, the one with lots of friends. I had a good number of other friends as well, but couldn't match you in that category. I was more of the silent wise guy that's always sharing good advice and calculating intensely before making any move. It was a very good partnership and I'm sure it helped us make a large part of those formative years so much easier as well as more fun.
But as we grew we started growing apart. It was almost as sudden as it began. We talked less, visited each other less, played less, and almost as quickly as we'd become best friends it started to look like we weren't anymore. Though we still held on to the best friend tag, it was somewhat clear that we probably weren't that anymore.
The deal was finally sealed when we were leaving primary (elementary) school. We weren't very close anymore so we didn't really discuss where we were going for high school. I wasn't sure where I was going, so I didn't want to ask you for yours as I'd need to tell you mine.
We went to different high schools at opposite ends of the country. yours was in the north and relatively close to our homes, while mine was all the way in the west very far from home. On short holidays I had to stay at my aunt's place near there as traveling all the way home will be too stressful and or expensive. And on long holidays my parents mostly come over to the west, so seeing you was almost impossible. As if to make things harder, my parents moved from the neighborhood while I was away. I changed schools once to a closer school. Unknowingly, it was your school. But as fate would have it, as I was joining the school you were leaving the school. I did visit you one or two times, but when I did I felt a lot more like a visitor than before.
Eventually we both just silently but unanimously decided to stop trying to keep it together. We didn't verbally relinquish the best friend tag, but there wasn't a need for that. The situation did that already.
Once in a while I come across your page online, or see your picture somewhere and think of an alternate universe where we remained best friends and even went to the same school. I'm sure it would have been fun. Well, the good thing though is I have now learned to be self-reliant. Probably may not have done that with you around. Who knows maybe one day in the future we'll meet again and treat ourselves to some drinks while we laugh about the memories of our past.