Long Lost Friends

I have had two pleasant surprises the past few days. Two friends whom I got separated from due to distance have suddenly renewed contacts with me.

The first one was a very good buddy I had when I was still in LA. This guy I shared the same room with at the office, day in and day out, for about two years. He was also my partner in crime when we curiously checked out the strip clubs in LA. When I went home here in Manila, we still managed to continue our contact thru email. We even went out when he visited Manila a year after I have gone home. But somehow the email exchange between us took a break. Email addresses unfortunately got lost.

So, when we finally got into contact again I was totally surprised when he answered my question: Musta na?

My friend already got married. And his wife just gave birth to their first son a week ago.

Gosh, was that really how long we lost contact with each other?

Second surprise came in the form of a text message early this morning. It was from a dear friend whom we gave a desdedida to last year when he migrated to Canada. He was a good friend since high school. We shared the same passion for music, home theater and DJ stuff. Surprisingly, we never heard from him since the despedida.

I don't know what his story is -- why hadn't he contacted anyone of us, his friends since high school, to update us on his Canada experience. But that will come in our later email exchanges. For now, I'm just glad that my DJ buddy is finally back in circulation again after a few months of hibernation.

As I always tell my wife, people should invest in friendships continuously. Just like in many things, you need to put some time and effort in building friendships. Otherwise, time may just allow you to drift apart.

It is true that a deep friendship may guarantee that even after a long period of non-contact, you can still bring back the good old times just like it was yesterday. But isn't it sweeter to let the good times keep on going?

Even if you're separated by distance. Even if it's just through the miracles of cyberspace.