With or Without You

 

As a child, I remember wondering how my mother could bear to stay away from her friends for such prolonged periods of time and only meet up with them on weekends or special occasions. To me, it seemed like something I would never, EVER be able to do. I just HAD to see my friends every day, or at least chat with them on the phone for at least an hour, if not more. During the teenage years, my two best friends meant the world to me, and the thought of not seeing them every day was unimaginable. We went to school together and went to tutors’ classes together, and as if staying together for something like 8-9 hours a day wasn’t enough, we’d come back home and chatter away on the phone till our mothers screamed their lungs out at us.

To think that the scenario today couldn’t be more ‘opposite’ is still shocking to me.The three of us hardly get to meet anymore. One of them lives in a different city while the other lives in the same city as I do, yet our worlds have drifted so far apart that we can hardly ever synchronize to catch up with a hangout. Funny thing, I don’t feel the sharp pangs of ‘missing’ I used to once upon a time. If anything, I rather like spending my weekends at my home, reading magazines or watching sitcoms or happily cooking in my kitchen. I like the distance and the space it allows me and the fact that I no longer feel the urge to share my inner turmoil or future plans with them on a regular basis like I did once upon a time. What was once unthinkable has been happily accepted as the norm now. Is this what adulthood does to everyone? I can’t figure out yet if it’s a good thing or a bad one.