fact

I miss my female owner. I am counting down the number of months before she returns home. Probably 9 more months? She plays with us like no one ever does. She also talks to us in her “turtle” voice that keeps us calm and relaxed.

According to my female owner, within these 9 months, many things will change in her friends’ lives. At least two are expecting babies (first-time parents!) and would be parents by the time she returns, one good friend just proposed and would be preparing for his wedding (which my female owner would probably miss, as usual), others would be getting married, a few in her Impromptu group would be changing jobs (and hopefully feasting in greener pastures), one friend emigrating to Australia!, others exploring postgraduate options etc etc. Even in terms of aikido, some of her juniors would have either overtaken or caught up with her in terms of their belt. When my female owner was back recently, she was amazed to find that she was still one of the most senior female aikidokas in the dojo. This won’t be the case anymore when she returns at the end of the year.

My female owner was discussing with her Therapist about how being away for an extended amount of time means that she misses out on not just her friends’ significant life-events but also, seemingly routine/ mundane things like group gatherings and events. And how they have to reach further into their memories to find shared experiences to relate and connect with their friends. For example, when she was back recently, my female owner cannot count the number of times when her Impromptu Frens made references to the “seafood lunch” or “that time at Arab Street”, only to end off with “oh, you were not back yet”.

Nothing depressing about it, just a fact of life. That’s how friendships go through the test of time and space. What survives become stronger.

My female owner often wondered what she would remember of Brisbane when she looks back at this season of her life in the future. She can only remember 2008 as a hectic year where she did not have the liberty to soak herself in overseas living. 2008 was a landmark year for her in a “what doesn’t kill you make you stronger” way. Previously, whenever she experienced tough times, she would tell herself,” you lived through junior college, you can live through anything”. Now, the marker has been updated to 2008 (needs a update anyway, you cannot always live on memories of your youth). Now, whenever she feels challenged, anxious or overwhelmed, she would think back of 2008, the crazy year, and know that she had triumphed over worse times.