Friends of my youth…where art thou?

I was browsing through Facebook and checking up on some of my ex-classmates from JC.  From the photos they uploaded, I realised that many are still keeping in touch with one another and are in the same social circle.  I, on the other hand, have not been in touch with any of them for the last…oh…10 years or so? I didn’t even invite any of them to my wedding…and this is coming from the person that is seen as the person that would keep the class together after graduation!

Well…I did for a while.  Every time I was back in Singapore for my summer holidays during my uni days, I would organise a get-together at my place.  Everyone would come and have a good time just catching up.  But after a couple of years, things got busy, and I stopped organising the gatherings…and with it, the interaction with them.  I guessed I started to hang out with my University friends a lot more.   They also did not contact me very much for gatherings either..it just kinda ended.  To a certain extent, I think we started to differ in terms of our goals, and what we wanted in life.

Sometimes I wonder if I would still have been included in their social circle if I made more of a point to meet with them.  From the looks of it, it seems great to hang out with people that you have known since you were 18.  Perhaps, it was indeed my lack of effort that resulted in me not retaining my friends from youth..But on the other hand, our lives are so different now…would I still know how to engage them?

I am a basically a mom, wife, educator, student all rolled into one.   I enjoy my days with the kids, and the evenings sitting side by side with S, (each engross with our laptops).  And they take up most of my time.   The other bits are spent with my gal pals  from Redbox & drinking kakis from W1 & W2 who are definitely more align with the current me.

Do I regret not keeping in touch with my friends? Well…in a way.  I wish I was more determined to keep my friendships regardless of how different we have become. But would I trade it for what I have now…..probably not.