We arrived home at the stroke of midnight. As we turned into the driveway, the car was still a car, and not a pumpkin. And no one had turned into horses or mice. All I had were 2 sleepy children in the backseat.
One fought sleep hard, but lost and was now exhaustedly sleeping away with her mouth wide open. The other looked on stonily, eyes kept wide open by imaginery toothpicks in the form of a mantra that went 'Go home can open presents. Go home can open presents.' Those words sustained him until we arrived home, torn paper wrappers and all.
We weren't returning home from a ball. We had just came back from a yearly xmas gathering with my old school friends. Some of us had known each other for twenty three years. Some longer, at twenty nine. As we grew through the years, we watched alongside as each other experienced life going through the different phases.
From individuals, we watched as some progressed into couples, and then to families of four, and some five. From childhood to awkward tweens, to motherhood and currently into middle age and beyond, we have certainly come a long way together.
Our Christmas gathering has been a yearly affair for the past (six, maybe seven?) years. Due to various personal commitments, our meet ups throughout the year can get quite sporadic and random. It is also tricky trying to arrange a suitable timeslot for everyone. As such, our meetings are rarely in a complete group of six. But at the end of every year, we would all be anticipating and looking forward to this gathering where attendance was an (almost) unspoken compulsory.
This year, to accomodate everyone's schedules, we had the gathering way ahead of Christmas. We spent a wonderful evening together with husbands and kids. The food that we had were simple; some bought, some made. But the conversations that flowed between us were rich. Good times, as always, simply pass by so quickly.
Amidst rocking dining chairs and screaming children running up and down, we came together and shared, with the many years of our friendship, laughters, food and warm conversations all around. It was heartwarming not only to see and catch up with everyone present, but also to witness the growth of each others' children through the years.
Some of them that we've seen as babies, have now embarked onto primary school. One is still in the crawling stage, and another has just begun to speak in complete sentences. It is a sobering thought to know that as we see these children growing and progressing differently every year, we too, age in return as the years go by.
In time to come, perhaps our gatherings will come to a full circle, when these same little children that we now tow along, attend future gatherings together as young men and women and with their own friendships forged amongst them. It would indeed be a heartening sight.
When I left the party last night, I didn't leave behind a glass slipper. Instead, I left with a tummy full of food, an armful of presents, and a heart filled to the brim with gratitude and love for each and everyones' friendship.
Thank you ladies, for making all of these possible.
May we have many, many more gatherings to come.
Merry christmas, and meet up soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment