Meet new friends but keep the old

We have new friends!  We also have a new dog-walker.

Our lovely Agnes had decided she needs to focus on Notting Hill (those lucky dogs!) so now Jaffa and I go for walks with Olivia and maybe someday George will join us. And here are the new friends we met:L to R: Freddie – a cavapoo, Cookie – Catalan Sheep dog, Whisper – cocker spaniel and Pepita – a miniature Schnauzer. And that’s me and Jaffa in the back row.

We love the name Whisper – think it’s funny when Olivia calls her in the park – shouting: “WHISPER!!!” But then maybe Whisper’s really good and never needs to be shouted at.

While we met new friends, Mummy met up with some really “old” friends.

The other day after I got lost in Chiswick Park and we lost George, Mummy was only too happy to have some time with her human friends.  Along came a bunch of new faces we have never seen except for one, Sui Phin who also lives in London.As usual we get very excited when we have visitors and we tried to get everyone’s attention.  But then it became apparent that they were all going out … leaving us at home – we were not happy. We sat on Mummy’s bed and sulked.Where did you say you’re going? A Cliff Richard concert?!?!?! Really?

May’s comment:  Friends I have known since I was seven and some whom I have not seen since we all went our separate ways at 16 – came together for a concert in London.  They came from afar – from four continents – Australia, Asia, North America and Europe. They’re obviously die-hard Cliff Richard fans – of which I am not, but it was the only time I could see them altogether.

In our daily lives, we meet new friends all the time.  Some friendships lasts while others wither away. Some friends are for a reason, a season and others are a lifetime.

I haven’t seen one of them since we finished O-levels and others I saw the last time I was in Australia about 25 years ago or Toronto 15 years ago.  We have hardly kept up with our daily lives except through Facebook, yet there was nothing unfamiliar. A hug, a few words said that re-connected us immediately.

Obviously our lives have taken us to different corners of the earth and we’ve all had different life experiences. But what we had in common are the memories of childhood. Our carefree days of pig tails and white ankle socks, have been replaced by families and careers. But despite whatever life had brought our way, whenever we’re together, we always laughed. We seem to bring out in each of us our “authentic selves” that needed no definition.  It did not matter if we scaled the ladders of success of if we had heartbreaks that made us who we are today. We only saw each other as we had known each other before our lives became crowded.  For that we are blessed that such old friends have stayed very much the same and connected despite distances and time.

L to R: Phaik Leng (Bristol), me, Chai Fung (Kuala Lumpur), Carol (Melbourne), Cathy (Toronto), Sui Phin (north London)