Making friends

I forgot how to make friends outside school after high school and college. My life was confined to the people I encountered in the campus. I never really had the opportunity to meet friends inside the village or join groups/organizations that were not related to school. If ever I did it was just for a short time and I was never really serious.

I chose to live that way to able to limit my responsibilities to handling relationships with others. Sometimes I became indifferent to the needs of others until my close friends started to migrate to other countries in search of a better life.

Until I met new friends who enjoy the same hobby. We started hanging out outside our house or at Apache’s (my next door neighbor) almost every night. We’d talk about dogs, health, after which we’d ironically drink liquor.

We went out occasionally. I had a blast with my new friends. They were great. Since they considered me one of the boys they became open about the wonders of their lives. The one thing that amazed me most about their tales was their womanizing. Yes, at first I called them womanizers. I’m 21 and I guess should not be surprised. Snooker has three girlfriends and he is able to manage all three well — or so he says. Tyson has two girlfriends and and several flings, I suppose. Last Valentine’s Day he introduced me to his "original" girlfriend. After few hours I saw him again but with another girl. At first I thought she was his relative, but then they became affectionate...

I didn’t bother to ask anymore.

The leash became a significant object in my life. My friends and I started to walk our dogs together. Yes, the leash controlled our dogs but it also bound us, their masters, together.

God gave Tyson, Snooker, Apache and my other friends to me in right time and the right place. I am currently taking up law at University of Perpetual Help-Rizal. Now that I have new friends outside school, I am actually applying the theories I learned from law — from my subject Persons and Family Relations, and even my Legal Ethics class. It is really funny that my friend’s predicaments and situations need a legal remedies

If ever I will be separated from them, at least I know they have left an indelible mark in my heart that I will always cherish.

Like it or not, we will always find ourselves meeting people — no matter what. We can’t really choose people that come into our lives, but we can always choose the ones we want to stay.

God will surely intervene.

But we must remember that they are like sand in our hands. The tighter we hold on to them, the more they slip away from our grasp.