Catching up with old friends

Catching up with all friends

When I was in junior high school, there was this boy, J who joined my class after he was an exchange student for one year to USA. He had plenty to talk about life in the USA and spoke with an American slang.

He was my house captain, my hockey coach, fellow soft ball player. He was any girls all round hero. Generally, he was a very friendly guy and I was just plain Jane. Perhaps I did have a crush on him and didn't dare admit it. I think all the girls had a crush on him. We were all young puppy loves.

Then we heard he was dating a girl from another school. We all cried buckets and thought it wasn't fair that she snatched him away from us. We took turns to write poison letters to her addressed to her school.

I finished high school and went to Canada. Finished my university studies, got married and had children and hardly went back to the town I grew up in. When I did, I didn't see him.

Fast forward thirty years, I went back for a family reunion. I saw him in holding room of the airport. My heart palpitated and called his name. He was surprised to see me after all these years.

I introduced him to my daughters.

He told them, "I was your mum's boyfriend."

My daughter said," He is so ugly and I am glad you didn't marry him but married dad.

Then my husband came, and I introduced my husband to him. He gave me his cell phone number, and promised to contact some old friends for a get-to-gether.

Thirty years is a long time, a lot of water had flown under the bridge. The girls joked that when he went out with the girl from another school, he pierced our hearts with daggers. The boys however was glad it happened, because it meant, they had a chance to date the girls. Some how, strangely we didn't pair off after high school. We joked that we left our heart not in San Francisco, but with him.

It was good catching with old friends, being nostalgic and have lots of pleasant and some not so pleasant reminiscences. We talked about our childhood shenanigans and how one boy paid his fees in one cent pieces and insisted the teacher take them because they were legal tender.

Such opportunities don't come often. I now live in New Zealand and don't get to return often not only because of the traveling cost, but because my parents are dead.