Saturday, December 13

LOST AND FOUND

"We meet again here in 1998, ok?" she asked.
"Ok." we agreed.
1998 came and went but we didn't have the chance to meet. At the age of 27, we were seeing the world. Some were just beginning to start a family while the others were busy dating and building a career. With only e-mails to help us communicate, it was difficult and time-consuming. We lost touch again after a year of e-mailing.

Then in 2008, with the latest technology, we managed to find each other again. It started with one persistent lady friend- Anita.
" You have to enter FB la.. everyone's there," she YM me.
" Aiyoh, lazy la.I've already got YM, google, and skype. What's FB by the way?"
" Facebook."
Bored out of my wits while recovering at in-laws', I decided to give it a try. And wah-lao, Anita was right. I found almost 20 of my 'golden' (the term 'old' is sensitive, hehehe) friends there.

I used the magic words. The nicknames they gave me in school to introduce myself (I didn't use my maiden name in this FB). And with a good profile photo.
And the responses were surprisingly warm.
"OMG, is that you *nickname*? (can't write here, malu laa) Why you look so young and sweet (ahem, thanks for the compliment)
"Where are you? You've changed your name?"
"Shall we meet next Chinese New Year. We're often back to our parents' home during the festive hols (meaning most will be in the same town at the same time).

Oh, thanks to the quick responses provided, I managed to keep in touch with almost a dozen golden friends at the same time. No need to open e-mails, just write on their walls or leave a private message.
And my golden school friends are multi-racial, multi-religious and live all over the world. Some have chosen to become Home Ministers and raise their children while others are juggling between home, work and commitments. And as we're all of the same age, it's interesting how different our lives turn out to be. As I've known some since we were 6 years old, we've practically grown up together until we were 17 or 19. They're a part of my life, and are irreplaceable.

Alhamdulillah, although I have a new name and a new identity, it has not stopped real friends from keeping in touch with me. For those who have not responded, well it's still considered a lost friendship, I guess. We can't please everybody or make everybody like us.

I haven't meet them for 20 years. I gazed at their photos in FB. Sure, we do look rather different now. More matured and alas, more wrinkles. Perhaps a little wider in the waistline. But I'd sure love to meet them again. It's not the same, meeting a golden friend for the first time in 20 years. InsyaAllah I hope I won't have to wait too long for that.

11 comments:

  1. Kak Aliya, I have the same experience about FB and now I'm online there almost every day since I found more than 60 of my childhood friends + schoolmates + univ-mates.

    Can I add you? I use my nickname, Chik

    ReplyDelete
  2. Assalamualaikum,
    Dear Aliya, I just discovered your blog through another blog and I love reading each and every entry of your writings. It touched me deeply when reading stories about Muslim reverts
    ماشاء الله لا قوة الا بالله
    Please do add me to your FB .. my name is Nujaimi. Salam Perkenalan :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Waalaikumussalam kakchik & Mimie,

    Huhu, there're many Chik in FB and I'm hoping I add the correct nujaimi :). I'm quite lousy at finding friends at FB, so why don't you ladies add me instead? I'm using my real name - NurAliya :))See you there!

    ReplyDelete
  4. nice blog :)
    kak, mohon link blog akak ke blog saya..

    thanks :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. salam kak aliya,
    i said something about rombakan kbsr up my blog. ish. i really think it's unnecessary!

    about facebook, i'm there, too. =) i'll add you up!

    ReplyDelete
  6. need help

    friend to friend of mine wud like to embrace Islam..

    you as revert has more experience.

    Pls help him

    you may email to me:-

    muhammad_syed@dell.com

    Thx
    Syed

    ReplyDelete
  7. Salam kepada Sakinah,Nnai & Jejaka,
    Sakinah,boleh saja..terima kasih kerana berkunjung ke blog ini. Mohon izin untuk link ke blog anda juga, ok?

    Nani, I've written my comment :)Sure, see you in FB soon.

    Jejaka,insyaAllah I'll email you soon. If I'm too slow/forget, you may email me too by clicking on my email address in my profile here :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Assalamualaikum

    Actually i want to ask forgiveness for forwarding your blog to sakinah and other revert when i stumble upon their blogs the same way i thumble yours. sorry for doing it without your knowledge as i deem Nessasary. both are converts .somehow have they somekind of similar experiance as you do. i dont want to spam your blog but here are their blogs.

    jolyn (18 years odl serani girl convert)

    http://summerjoyforever.blogspot.com/

    and sakinah (i don't know, maybe east malaysian)

    http://penahatinursakinah.blogspot.com/

    i can see in this past a year or so a rise of blogs maintained by converts to Islam in our country - which is good sign. as their are getting more and more courage to express theirselves and speak their rights. you know we can't rely upon our govt to care for our welfare, especially if we're non malay Muslims, which i know too much, so our blogs as our medium to learned and voices our needs and demand. maybe one day we can have malaysian mualaf bloggers united as primier source of information and so on. sorry for long post.

    Wasalam

    from chindian guy.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Waalaikumussalam azlan,
    It's alright. Sometimes we do follow our instinct or our hearts. Yes, Sakinah was here, weren't you Sakinah? And I've checked out jolyn's blog too.BTW azlan, do you have any blog of your own?

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  10. silalah link kak :)
    saya bumiputra sabah :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hmm... I wonder how Mr Azlan found out about my blog? But alhamdulillah for that because I have someone to inspire me. Thank you Mr Azlan for stumbling my blog and introducing me to Pn Aliya.

    Pn Aliya, thank you for inspiring me.

    Subhanallah... Everything has been planned by Allah in advance.

    ReplyDelete