Thank you for being my friend

I was looking forward for today because I have a date with my old girlfriend from uni days, Lynne. She's practically the only friend that I still keep in regular contact with. Though the term 'regular' is very loosely used here. We meet once in a blue moon. Even this date has been planned since before puasa and postponed so many times.

We had a good time. We talked about family, relationships, friends, children, careers, and best of all, went down memory lane together from the dreams that we had when we were younger *sigh*, the multi-level business that we got so excited about, the heart-breaks and so much more. This is why meeting old friends is so heart-warming especially when you've gone through a lot of things together. See how we grow from the naive, sweet, young thing to mature, sophisticated woman of the world.

Lynne and me are in fact the total opposites of each other. It started way back in uni. We became friends from a mutual friend, Shaz *wonder what happened to her* and from then on, we became good friends. Lynne's other friends who are more in tuned with her personality, didn't understand why and how we can be friends. But that doesn't matter and didn't stop us from becoming good buddies. Lynne is friendly, I'm aloof; Lynne is soft-spoken, I'm direct; Lynne is stylish, I'm simple; Lynne is dreamy, I have my feet on the ground.

Our friendship stood the test of time. Though we're not as close as we used to be but whenever we get the chance to meet, we can just pick up from where we left before and that's just so cool.

I like old friends because they know how far they can be honest and straight with you. The one thing that I remembered most from our conversation today was the part when Lynne commented that I'm more relaxed in my appearance after I took off my hijab and more so, after I have my son. She added that I used to be more 'jangok' *she used the exact word* when I was wearing tudung before. I guess she's right. I've never been a fashion follower or dress as well as Lynne but over time, I've taken a more relaxed approach on appearance. Maybe I don't have a corporate code to adhere to. People in my profession knows that appearance is one major part of first impression and the only impression that counts is the first. I better be careful not to get too relax, huh Lynne? Thanks for telling it to my face :) Only Lynne can do it with such grace and tact.

Believe it or not, it's already 10 years since we graduated. We've become so different from where we started. I started of as a career-minded, competitive, strong person and I see Lynne as a soft, sweet, and pleasant woman who is happiest being married to her dream-guy and have children. Now, the table has turned the other way around. It's Lynne now who's career-minded and determined to climb the corporate ladder and it's me who's the dotting mom. Corporate image means very little to me. I've left the corporate world for more than 5 years now. I'm glad and thankful that I took my current career path as an independent wealth advisor that gives me the flexibility to juggle my time between work and family. Lynne did say I've mellowed and looked more content now. I guess accepting who I am is the key to it all. I know that there'll always be someone who's better than me, smarter than me, richer than me, have a bigger house than mine, drives a bigger car than me, and a lot more. Enough of trying to outdo other people. I design my own destiny and if I don't like something with my life, all I need to do is do something about it. For now, everything is just dandy.

To my dear, dear friend Lynne, thank you for being the wonderful person that you are. I love you *muahhh!* I pray that you'll always be in my life and may we alway be friends for ever and ever...