What Passed is Passed

A high school friend from Hong Kong (nicknamed Watermelon because of his large noggin) is working for IBM and he's traveling to New York for three weeks on assignment. So for the past weekend, I traveled up to meet him. For at least 4 years at the end of school we were in the same class. Through some mishap repeated one year of school together and since a few guys and us lived in the same area, we walked home together pretty much everyday. He played parts of my most treasured memories, we are friends. A bunch of us still keep in touch whenever we can, but we have graduated for more than 10 years, and though we live so far apart, we still keeps in minimal contact via IMs and Facebook.

So when I found out that Watermelon is coming to New York for the very first time, I was eager to show him around. But by the time I saw him, he has already been to most landmarks. All I can do is to bring him to Little Italy, Chinatown, Wall Street, the High Line Park and take him to the free Staten Island Ferry back and forth so he can take some pictures of the Statue of Liberty. He stayed true to the stereotypical Asian tourist persona and insist on taking a whole bunch of pictures with us together so he can show them to our other friends. He even perfected the self-snap technique. Some pictures turned out pretty good, so I'm hoping to receive them through email soon to update my various profile pictures.

Watermelon just got married the past March joining a rank of other friends who has gotten to the point of having children. Other than catching up on the status of mutual acquaintances, his marriage, my unemployed situation, the job market in Hong Kong, there's not much else to talk about. It bothers me to realize that we have migrated into other social circles and don't have much in common anymore. An originally planned all day engagement has shrunk to a little less than 8 hours and we had to fill it with 2 big meals in between. I guess 10 years is a long time and that's quite regrettable.

The one good thing about it is that I've recognized life moves on and I have to get on with mine as well. All my friends are developing their personal and career life rapidly. Some are married, having kids and getting more secured financially. It's time for me to follow suit. They say friends are like mirrors, right? Since he will come back a few times a year, maybe we'll be able to see each other more and rebuild our friendship.