Old friends, new friends, all are to be treasured. For true friendships rarely come. Some will go, some will stay, but there is every reason to be thankful for having each of them even at some point in our lives.

My Friends Through the Years

When I was in the elementary grades, I only had one friend. Her name was Lala but we found ourselves drifting away in high school. There was no particular reason for this and it just happened but there was no bad blood between us, ever.

In high school, I again settled for one friend. Bambi was quite outspoken, a complete opposite of my painfully shy self then. Still, we clicked and everything was well until we had to part ways in college. 

College was a marked improvement in terms of the number of friends I have. During the first two years, I was inseparable from Mildred, Diane, and Liza, who were all my seatmates because of the alphabetical listing of our names. Soon, some more were added. Ivy, Me-ann, Maribeth, Chit, and Apple happily joined the fray. It was a wonderful time to live a young life.

Another separation of ways ensued when each of us chose our major. I chose Economics, one chose Accounting , and the rest opted for Business Management. Once again I was alone but not for long for I found Elda, Lyn, Gladys, and Mary Ann. The good news is that my first group of friends in college remained my friends all throughout college, giving me a group of friends, bigger than I can ever hope for. I still remain in contact with some of them up to now and lost contact with some.

Friends from work were many like Alma, Magelle, Fe, Euli, and Malou. Except for the last two though, I've practically lost contact with them. Change of jobs was the main reason and that was that.



Making New Friends

When I started working from home, I did not anticipate making new friends. For a while there was none until I started joining online groups. From these groups, I found new friends. Most never seen, but friends just the same.

It is difficult to gauge and develop real friendships in the online world. Not everything will be as it seems. Many will be a complete surprise when met in person for the personality often projected online  may be different from the real. 

My Say

The photo above shows me with my old college friend Elda and my new online friend Marri. It can be amusing to look at 40 something ladies posing for the photo booth, with accessories and all but I have to say it is genuine fun at its best. The happiness of seeing a friend who I haven't seen for quite some time and the excitement of seeing a friend for the first time is kind of difficult to put in words but it is here in my heart.

That said, let me say this to both of them, and the rest of my friends, both old and new: