Life is a Mosaic of Friends who bring Colours

The past weeks have been filled with activities centered on the theme of Reunion - of friends long forgotten, or when awkward silences have built up, or when distance starts to make you feel estranged from one other.

Had a long overdue tete-a-tete at Raku-Zen in Plaza Hartamas with Fazu, where we spent the time in a snug chubb hole spot with cozy, padded walls and seats long enough to stretch my feet. Talking about friends, lovers (or lack of), serious future plans and the lure, energy and magic of Indonesia (and the irresistable charm of its sons and daughters). All over fresh sashimi and refills of hot ocha. Gratifying.

Then there was the School Reunion - much dreaded at first but turned out brilliant. Its so amazing to see how people get through the years and where they end up:

The masters of ceremony who was a former butch-type lesbian who turned up in salon-curled hair and black lace

The Persistently Annoying personality type who used the reunion to shamelessly promote her new colonic irrigaton business

The Kinky Sex friend who used to have me awe and gawp at her stories had to rush home for her daugher's birthday party

The fat girl with pigtails and thick glasses who turned out to be the most beautiful girl in the room that day

The girl who first lost her virgnity in our class (and who used to photograph her snogs) who is now a model Muslim mother and housewife with 2 daughters

The gangly skinny artist, who also married an artist, living bohemian lives with a 4 year old who already paints and, in her words, "is really funky for her age"

The loudmouth who is now an RTM news celebrity

and on and on.......

And then my closest friends at school whom i had not met for ages. I was worried that they had changed unrecognisably. But they really hadn't. And that felt the best of all. They had become corporate lawyers, bankers, environmentalists, activists. And within seconds it was like the 15 year gap since we left school melted along with the hot teh tarik being served at the high tea.

*Sheila welcome back Mate. And thanks for taking pictures of my Much Bigger Boobs and posting it up on the email for proof to the rest.*

There was also a reunion of sorts within the reunion - I attended the event with someone who was so much a part of my life for 10 years but the relationship tragically fell apart 2 years ago because of Things that Got in the Way. She came by to the house, picked me up. Like the old days. It feels like we completed a cycle. An emotional achievement, a coming of age, a maturing of souls.

Part of the high tea itinerary was a showing of pictures from old yearbooks. It was such a hoot with the 80s big hair, shoulder pads and clunky earrings. You then knew the real test of beauty were people who looked good EVEN THEN. And they were. Bitches.

I guess my old schoolmate AW (who wanted to be a nun but ended up working in giant cosmetic companies but now turned environmentalist - who's getting married in a couple of months to someone she 'recycled' from the past) said it best,

"Gosh we had a lot of fun. I don't remember what the hell we did, but it looked like fun"

Had then Spa-themed girls only Birthday Bash for TheBody, after not seeing the Gaggle of Girls for ages - where Inconditus (i dunno how to put in weblink someone please helpch me to teach me) did a brilliant job of turning her apartment into spa-like ambiance with aromatherapy, spa music, candles and batik. And the lotions, potions, scrubs generously donated by Lita and Inconditus for head-to-toe nurturing for TheBody with our loving hands. I had initially wanted a reading of women-affirming poetry by Maya Angelou but couldnt be bothered in the end. Next time.

Someone remarked that i looked happy and positive.
It feels that way, for now at least.