Footwear optional.

Make new friends

Keep the old

One is silver

The other gold.

We used to sing this slightly sappy little ditty in junior (=elementary) school. It came to mind on the day of Eid, when I ran into a dear friend who I had not seen in a very long time. Three years ago we both moved house within days of one another. That upheaval was followed by a succession of life events for both of us and our kids, which kept us busy. There were occasional phone calls or e-mails, but they had slowed down too. Sometimes we grow out of friends, or we grow apart, not with rancour but just as a natural progression on both sides. That was not the case here. The craziness of daily life with kids and family and work just kept us from getting in touch.

Earlier this year I went home for my aunt’s funeral and met with a family friend who I had not heard from in two decades. We had been very close at one time, but with very different interests and lifestyles had drifted apart, keeping track of one another via my aunt and other family members. She and my aunt had become friends first despite an age gap, way back in the day, and she became part of our family. We did some number crunching and worked out that we have been a part of each other’s lives since 1974! Our shared loss brought us the realization that life is passing very quickly, and we should cherish our friendship and keep in touch more often.

We meet many people in life, perhaps more than in our parents’ and grandparents’ generations, as people move around a lot more than in the past, and modern means of communication such as e-mail and Facebook let us “meet” people far away whom we would never come to know otherwise. But not everyone we meet becomes a real friend. Those people with whom you can carry on from where you left off after an interval of months or years or decades, with whom you have shared joy, sorrow, aspirations and frustrations, are few and precious. It is always a delight to make a new friend and find a kindred spirit. I have met one or two in more recent years and I have the hope that if our paths ever diverge, we would be able to carry on from where we left off somewhere down the line. But rekindling the old friendships is especially precious, and a reminder that not everything in life is linear. Coming around again, revisiting and reinforcing and deepening an experience, knowledge, a friendship, is one of the joys of life.   

This cute little collection of pictures on the BBC is giving me flashbacks. At the risk of showing my age, I can tell you that I remember when kids dressed like this, and there are photos of me and my sibs wearing alarming sweaters and purple polyester. (FWIW I still like purple but I loathe polyester.)

The fashions of the last few years have been making me queasy too. All those weird colour combos, swirly floral triffid prints and stretchy synthetics. I was there the first time around and am already scarred for life.

Short skirts and knee socks – yikes. Shades of hideous school uniforms and outdoor PE lessons and Remembrance Day at the Cenotaph in Girl Guide uniforms, no coats allowed.  The cenotaph in my home town is right on the Promanade with gales howling unhindered off of the Irish Sea. That kind of thing really sorts the women from the girls!

[/nostalgia]

Weighing in a little late due to meeting deadlines, ironing hijabs, getting everyone out of the door on time  for the Eid prayers and trying to get decent Eid pics of the kids (that last one did not meet with success; the cat was more cooperative).

Eid Mubarak to my small band of readers, I know you are out there somewhere!

I finally made it into the blogosphere. Watch this space.