A reason for living

This morning, a friend said to me

"everything in this world happens for a reason and everybody is a reason by themselves
and ultimately everybody is a reason for the other"

I guess with those words, he summed up a whole lot of things in my life.

As my best friend gets ready to tie the knot at the end of this month, i sit here counting the days as they pass by, watching friends come and go, leaving their footprints all over my heart.

By nature, i tend to be a very selective person when it comes to making friends, but once i do make one, i end up making them the center of my world, where i love to pamper them to the extent of being spoilt. Such was the case with this darling heartbeat of mine, who is now on her way to make another's heart beat with her little ways.

I've seen many friends come and go in life, and although they are central to us at certain times, there is always that dreadful moment, when we instantly know of the inevitable gaps that begin forming.

Marriage in most cases, has many women giving up friends and family, coz they have a whole new world to deal with. Staying in touch gets more difficult as the responsibilities pile and before we know it, time creates a drowning gap that leaves us almost speechless. I guess that explains one reason why old friends meet each other and let out a loud shriek before they even utter the regular "hi - hello".

Men on the other hand, have it really easy. I think women envy them to an extent coz they get to keep their friends, their family and everything they love, even those hard-to-part-with sentimental stuff from their first crush! Women, on the contrary, have to let go each step of the way...sometimes because of residential changes, sometimes because her husband wont understand the meaning behind an old Valentine card, and sometimes because she simply cant keep track of her little treasure box as it grows in size with each passing year.

Eventually, that brings all the emphasis back onto real time, real moments and real people.

Friends, i believe, are the reason we keep living. They end up popping by unexpectedly, at a particular time for a particular purpose and once they've done their part, they are off onto the next person, the next moment...

Sometimes we cant figure out their role in the big picture, but it only begins to make sense after they've gone...slowly that canvas reveals it's numerous colors and we see the beauty of life in all clarity. We begin to see the gaps being filled with laughter, with pleasure, with memories, with moments and just like a virtual album, a new chapter is created in our minds. I guess that's where we run and hide when the world gets cruel and when we want to relive our past.

Therefore, if as this dear friend said, everyone is a reason by themselves and everybody is a reason for another, then i take it that friends are the one's who keep us alive when our heart stops beating.

They leave us with memories, that never fade.

They give us those imaginary wings, when we want to soar.

They fill in those empty gaps, when we don't know that they even exist.

They hear the words we say, when we think we are silent.

They color our world with new perspectives, that we never thought of before.

They know stuff about us, that we don't know ourselves

and sometimes,

they are the only ones who can resurrect our spirits when our minds give up.

To all my friends, who've been my reason for living, at some point or the other, i dedicate this first post as a toast to all those beautiful memories that will live on...