twenty-one: goodbye

sent a close friend of mine away to the States yesterday. lots of my classmates from JC were there. it got me thinking about JC all over again and for a while, it felt like i was going to ghim moh again the next day, to do chem bonding or to study op-amps again. and sitting in my friend's car as he drove some of us back to our homes, made me realise that things have changed and that life has invariably moved on, and that some of us are doing medicine in singapore whilst others are doing it overseas, or that some of us are not doing medicine at all. that the threads of our life have deviated from each other.

and it made me think about a time 8 months ago when i said goodbye to another very special friend. the temporality of people, the evanescence of experience and the transcience of the security which friendship brings. it reminded me of how i felt.

still, i will have to say goodbye to yet another best friend in about a months time. and also other friends who have undoubtedly made a difference in my life.

never said goodbye to friends before. maybe now is when we're growing up. you only know you've grown up when your friends start leaving you for other places. you only know you've grown up when you start attending their weddings and you realise that you've stopped growing when, and now, also if, you say goodbye to them forever.

at the end of the day, all we're doing is skipping stones.