Saturday, January 01, 2005

Pak Lang in memory...

As I sit here tonight, replying to my emails, my mind brings back memories of a very good friend whom I call Pak Lang. I guess the atmosphere is very similar to that night we first ‘met’.

It was the night before Aidilfitri (I wonder why I’m currently having a lot of Raya stories in mind?). Back then, Pak Lang was doing his masters in UK. He stumbled upon my advertisement at an international email penpal website and, feeling lonely on a Raya night I guess, decided to reply. It was the beginning of a close email friendship. For almost 2 years, over the vast expanses of the internet, we shared our joys and supported each each other through life’s turbulences.

During our entire friendship, we’ve only met twice. The first time was because he personally wanted to pass me an invitation to his wedding. The second time was at the wedding itself. In fact, I actually went to help out at the wedding from the day before. It’s weird considering that I don’t know his family all that well but I guess that’s just the kind of person I am. It also helped that his family was very welcoming and sporting about the whole thing.

Unfortunately, we’ve now almost completely lost touch with each other. The last contact I had from him was an SMS wishing me a happy Aidilfitri this year and there was no further answer to my reply. It’s a sad but very understandable fact that between your work and your family, there is little time for anything else. However, I do wish that this friendship could have endured for as long as we both lived…

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