Friends!!

One of my oldest friends, sent me a mail asking me to read some of her thoughts meant for her blog. She happened to be talking about legacies(amongst other things) that she would like to leave her son. They were various wonderful things listed there and as I read through them, I realised that I wanted to add one more item to that list.............one very important item that I would wish for my son to have.

FRIENDS. .

Like the ones that I have had the privilege of having. Most of my friends have been my friends for almost 2 whole decades, maybe even more! And I can honestly tell you, I don't think my life and experiences would be any better without them.
And another thing that really did not astonish me was, how much her thoughts echoed mine. Was it any surprise considering that she has been a part of my life for almost forever?

We were never the ya-ya sisterhood kind of friends pledging friendship through eternity, nor did we wear friendship bands and dedicate songs on MTV and Youtube.
We have gently sailed the friendSHIP through teenage, college, careers, crushes, marriage, husbands, inlaws and now motherhood.

It never fails to bring a smile on my face when I think of all those things that we giggled at in highschool. The way we copied shamelessly from each other in term exams and monthly tests. The way we would pool all our pocketmoney to buy turkey eggs from the milk booth at the back of the school.
Our solemn discussions on romance (courtesy M&B that I would smuggle into class to read), love and sex.......... We loved to hang out with each other and would actually miss our little gang when we had holidays so much that we would write letters to each other on vacations and school holidays.

As time passed, we moved on in life, made new friends and somehow, magically, those new friends became new friends for the other members of the group. We attended each others weddings and had children ourselves.

There were phases when we wouldn't correspond or meet each other for years on end. Yet when we did, it was as if we were never apart. We could just pick up our lives and carry on a conversation as if time had never intervened.

And now, it feels so right to share our hopes, fears and dreams for our children with each other even though we all have wonderful spouses and families.

We are now swamped for time, juggle careers with families, worry about our finances and rarely have the time to just catch up and have a cup of coffee.

And yet, as we all march relentlessly to the tunes of father time, it only takes an email from any one of these girls to bring to life an old Carpenter's song.......'Its yesterday once more".

Smitha, Aruna, Shilpa, Rashmi, ........ as we all battle bulges, wrinkles, arthritis, middle age, finances, build homes and houses and guide our kids into adulthood and worry ourselves into our graves.............you guys have been that one rare and precious breed called FRIEND.

I only wish and pray, Manish can have friends like you.