Friendship... After all these years

Friendship has a strange way of marking time.

It has been twenty five years since I first knew her. A person who slowly became a friend, then someone I shared almost everything with. For nearly a decade, there was time, conversations, presence, and the comfort of knowing someone was always there. Then life happened. Marriage, different cities, different priorities. Distance crept in quietly, and at some point the connection stopped, not because of a fight or a choice, but because life decided to move things around.

I do not blame anyone for how it turned out. Some friendships are not meant to end loudly. They just fade, even when the care remains. Looking back, it feels less like loss and more like acceptance. Life has its own way of playing out, and not everything stays the way we hope it will.

I wish her well. Happy Friendship Day, and a great 2026.

But this time, I am not letting it go quietly.

Now there is someone else. Almost two years of knowing her, and in that short time, the connection feels deeper in ways I did not expect. Different from before, but just as important. Rather much more. This time, I am aware of how fragile these bonds can be.

I know I cannot control how life unfolds. But I do know this. I am not losing you. Some friendships deserve effort, presence, and choice. And this time, I intend to choose. Happy new year to you and I wish you a year filled with least stress and lots of smile.

Some connections do not fade because they were weak. They fade because life rearranges itself without asking. Time, distance, and silence slowly do their work, and one day you realise something meaningful has become a memory without ever becoming a goodbye.

What stays with me is awareness. The understanding that closeness needs more than feelings. It needs effort, presence, and choice. Without those, even the strongest bonds can loosen quietly.

So now, when something feels real, I pay attention. I show up more. Not out of fear, but out of respect for what it is. This is not about holding on tightly. It is about not letting go carelessly.