Love

Written by Grace Pow
 
One afternoon, I saw two cheerful kindergarteners holding hands in Kowloon Park. Their radiant smiles melted my heart. Suddenly, I remembered my friends and Dionne Warwick’s song, That’s What Friends Are For.
 
Knowing you can always count on me, for sure
That's what friends are for
For good times and bad times
I'll be on your side forever more
That's what friends are for

Apart from our family, friends are also very important. We develop new friendships at different stages of life. Most of us come from different backgrounds and have different experiences. Not everyone can be our soulmates. But we can still get together at our leisure. Positive relationships help boost our physical and emotional wellbeing.
 
I met my three besties when we were in junior forms. It is hard to imagine that the four of us can be best friends because our personalities are so different. The most incredible thing is that our friendships have lasted for almost half a century. We are like a family and share everything. Though we argue at times, we talk things through and make up shortly. Since high school graduation, we have dinner together almost every week except during the peak of the COVID pandemic. Besides, a few of my primary schoolmates and I are still keeping in touch. When we were young, our topics were mostly related to our families and careers. Now, we focus mainly on how to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
 
Colleagues can also be our friends. The relationships are so precious if we can still stay connected or meet again when we no longer work together. Two years ago, I came across an ex-colleague, Mandy, who had not been in touch for a long time. We started to reconnect and realised we had changed a lot. I have retired while Mandy has become a mother of two daughters. There is no communication gap between us though we have taken different paths in our lives. We go out for tea whenever we are free. Recently, I ran into another ex-colleague who had not been in contact for more than 10 years. Both of us were very happy to see each other again. After chatting for a while, we arranged to get together with a few other colleagues next month.
 
If we do not want our family to worry when something happens to us, we usually share with our friends and they are good listeners. After my retirement, I cherish mine all the more. Though I cannot visit a few of them abroad, we still chat on WhatsApp. Sharing our lives and photos on social media platforms makes us very happy too.
 
Looking back, I feel really grateful to all my friends who came into my life.