A note from the past

A few weeks ago, I began clearing some boxes in my study and found a stack of farewell notes from teachers and classmates. They were written just before I left secondary school in the mid 90s.

Right at the top was the one my desk partner wrote me. That desk partner was DSD.

"Dearest V______,

This paper is too nice to write on. I almost felt like keeping it for myself. Anyway, the time has finally come for us to go our separate ways. From the bottom of my heart, I would like you to know that it has been wonderful knowing you. Truly a great joy. Though I didn't know you very well in Sec 1 and 2, I got to know you a little better in Sec 3, and got to know you well in Sec 4, I want to say that you're very pleasant, responsible, talented (both in your musical and literary skills) and that you've been a great friend. Come to think of it, we've been classmates for 4 years.
All the months seemed to have passed by in a flash. In this year, I've gotten to know you a whole lot better, and I never knew that we have quite a lot of common interests and similar views on certain issues.
You're a great person to work with coz I've found it very enjoyable working together with you on projects and assignments. We seem to get things done easily and quickly. (Don't know whether you felt the same way. Or I am just very thick-skinned). Anyway, maybe in the future, we could start a business together, after obtaining our degrees in Mass Communications (let's hope we get them. Maybe even with first-class honours). For all you know, it could happen.
Remember to keep in touch after graduation, and let's hope we'll be able to make that backpacking trip of ours materialize in two years' time. Remember to tell me when you're going to Canada. I'll always remember you as the girl who's absolutely nuts about unicorns, mythical stuff, books, writing and in love with Canada. When you write your first book, don't forget to dedicate it to your friends!
Finally, good luck and all the best in your "O" Levels and I am sure you can pass with flying colours!"

Well, I didn't major in Mass Communications or move to Canada. I stayed in Singapore for junior college, then went to Michigan where I majored in English. DSD, though, received her degree in Mass Communications. We never did go backpacking together but DSD and I made many journeys of our own, collecting memories and experiences as if they were the only things worth having (many times, they were). We never started a business, but we worked for the same editor, though at different times in our careers, and at different publication houses. We still have many common interests and eerily similar experiences and the same views on a good number of things.

While we were never schoolmates or classmates again, I like to think that DSD and I never quite went our separate ways. For over a decade - and then some - we remained close: writing to each other, enthusing about music and books and dreams, calling international when we needed to hear a friendly voice, taking a rock-climbing course together, rising early to enjoy the quiet of an empty beach, treading water in the sea while we gazed at the clouds and ships, and perhaps in the near future, we will travel to a distant country. It would be our first journey together. The one we spoke of 16 years ago.

Don't forget, DSD. And please remind me often too.

Friend Like You, by Josh Radin

Posted by Monoceros at February 7, 2010 8:25 PM