Friendly Days

taken on my sunset drive home from somewhere

Something made me pull out "The Best of Me" by Nicholas Sparks from the bookshelf next to the bedside table to read it again today. It was however towards the ending of the book that a conversation between the two characters on reminiscence invoked something familiar.

… “Earlier, when the ashes were floating away, do you know what I was thinking about? I was thinking about the night we were on the dock watching the meteor shower. I don’t know why, but all of a sudden it was like I was there again. I could see us lying on the blanket, whispering to each other and listening to the crickets, that perfect, musical echo. And above us, the sky was just so … alive.” – Amanda Collier speaking to Dawson Cole

I was drawn back to her words and read it again - this time, more carefully - and there it was, the long-forgotten past memory.

We had been exchanging text messages while I was accompanying Mama Carrie for our grocery shopping at Jusco Mid Valley. We rarely shop there, only when its other branches do not a carry a specific item. My sensitive antennas were raised when another text message from mi amigo arrived in my inbox that ran along the lines of watching the stars together and exchanging conversations with banters.

I swear to God, I had forgotten all about it until I read the book. How could I have possibly been thinking about that memory when our friendship has been left hanging on the clothes line for a while now? I’m not saying that this is for the best but what I’m trying to say here is that it’s no fun being left in the headlights, confused and stunned at the way things turned out.


part of last year's Christmas decorations in Curve

If I have to make a guess, it’d have to be time and distance that ruined it all. Honestly, I miss those days when we would drop emails or instant messages for a change at each other’s inbox.

Inasmuch as I’m left the confused one (hey, it’d make a great title for another short story!), I won’t jump the gun and drop a simple Hello. In all my twenty-plus years of existence, I’ve learned to leave friends alone until they come a-looking for me or when I go a-looking for them.

Please don't be mistaken. I'm not sad or emotional, just rather nostalgic.