Amigos para siempre

This was the theme for our secondary school prom night. Back then, it was not common for schools in Malaysia to have prom nights, what more in a small town like Seremban. Interact club, Leo Club and Prefectorial Board nights - yes, but not prom nights. If my memory doesn’t fail me, my batch was the first in my school to organise one on our own initiative. I remember it was a group of us girls from an all girls’ school along with a group of boys (from an all boys’ school, of course!) that got together to form an unofficial organising committee to plan for THE night to celebrate friendship and mark our “graduation” from school. We booked the ballroom at a hotel, selected the menu, hired a DJ, sold the tickets and made it happen. It was definitely a night to remember and the girls promised to live up to the theme of the night “Friends Forever”.

Since then, I’ve met up with the girls individually but not as a group. Some continued with Sixth Form, some went to college. Some pursued degrees overseas, others locally. Those who studied overseas mostly returned to Malaysia after graduating. However, not all of us are working in our home country. There are a few in Singapore and another across the Pacific Ocean.

8 of us reunited last Saturday and threw one of the girls, SL, a hens’ night as she was getting married later this month. We treated her to a day spa with full body massage, pedicure and manicure included. She wasn’t the only one getting pampered that day. We also took advantage of the opportunity to treat our bodies with aromatherapy massage and got our nails done. As soon as SL completed her spa, we went for a meal of tapas and sangrias. The night was still young when we finished our dinner but I suppose we’ve mellowed down over the years and clubbing wasn’t top of mind. Instead, we bought some snacks and headed to SL newly furnished apartment in KL. We helped ourselves to red wine, snapped away with our digital cameras (even recorded a few video clips - we live in a digital age, baby), laughed and chatted till wee hours of the morning...just like those slumber parties at SL’s home in Seremban a decade ago (well, minus the wine).

All of us have changed in some ways but certain characteristics remain. T’s still the booklover (she had books in her knapsack and she was holding a magazine throughout the night!), SA has the cutest face when she smiles (u can’t see her eyes!), SP is the bold and daring one, tai kar che LS takes care of us, you can’t find a better listener than SM, no one can beat AL in blushing, SL’s the sweetie pie and me – the one who gets things rolling.

We may not have been there for each other throughout the years but that doesn’t mean we are strangers. We may not know the hills and valleys each have been to but that doesn’t mean we will not step up to walk or hike together when the time calls for such. We may be physically out of sight, but not out of mind. Come what may, we will still be amigos para siempre.