Yesterday, I had dinner with my buddy Kenrick who I’ve not seen since Rajan’s funeral on 1st January. Kenrick was kind to travel all the way from his house in Kota Kemuning just to have dinner. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in communications recently and now looking for a job. Throughout dinner, I thought how grumpy Kenrick looked. I expected to have an easy-go-lucky company, not a grump.
The reason I asked Kenrick to dinner was because I wanted to try being relax and not so cooped up in the presence of a male friend. Kenrick as I remembered him always made me giggle. But when we parted after dinner last night. I also remembered that Kenrick has changed over the last two years which I knew but forgot. Kenrick in my memory was still 17 years old. My memory of him was six years outdated.
I didn’t tell Kenrick the whole reason for wanting to have dinner with him or he might not have come. It has to do with another friend of mine. Tiam Loong seemed more serious after I came back from surgery in December last year. It was quite shocking how a person’s demeanor could change so much over my two weeks of absence. I could not help being self-conscious and suffered myself to wonder if I had said or done anything that caused him to change. Since I tend to have a serious demeanor myself, I feared that people around me might also be changing their demeanor to adapt. In that case, it might mean that I make them feel cooped up.
But after meeting Kenrick, I could see that Tiam Loong isn’t exactly more serious. The better word would be ’matured’. At least, he is not grumpy.
A saying comes to mind. When we perceive something as bad, remember it could be worse!
