Friends forever they said

“As we go on we remember all the times we had together and AS OUR LIVES CHANGE, come whatever, we will still be friends forever.”
This is the chorus of a hit song titled Graduation (Friends forever) by an American pop singer Vitamin C. I fell in love with this song the first time I heard it. This was way back in primary school and I couldn’t exactly relate to the lyrics, I mean, I only listened to the song because it sounded nice(it still does by the way). Today, for the first time in a long time, I’ve played the song over and over again, and listening to every word, I know I love the song even more, because now, I can totally relate!

Four years and a few ASUU ‘holidays’ ago I gained admission into the prestigious “University of First Choice and the Nation’s pride” like my vice chancellors always remembered to put it. I was in the university and it felt good, really good! A fresh start for me, for I had left everything, well, almost everything behind. I had it good. Everything seemed to always fall right into place, until I started taking friendship serious *sigh*
                          …
We were 2 and then we became 3 and soon the number increased… I almost gave us a name. Now what was it? Yh, Soul Sisters. For at a point, what we were transcended the state of friendship. No, you don’t meet such people only in schools. Places of worship, places of work and other points of regular convergence also facilitates such bonds. And then for a moment you think it will never end- the ‘journey’ to the classroom/place of worship or ride to work; regular lunch breaks; the ‘journey’ back to the hostel/home; doing things you all have in common and others you merely have to deal with; having unending conversations and then realising you have assignments to deal with before the morrow; the momentary laughs; the eventful outings; the smart ideas you all come up with, down to the outrightly stupid things you could have sworn you would never do but ended up doing anyway. Lol. Then you permit your mind to brew the thought that it will always be that way, your face lightens up while you see their faces in your meandering thoughts until…

…Until four years elapses and you are no longer roommates because no more do you have those annoying early morning classes, which in turn means you all don’t have to walk all the way in order that you must be seat partners in a boring class, listening to a lecturer that you are sure wishes he were in his house having hot sex with his wife who you hope would be beautiful, but instead, he gives you a lecture on a topic that he expects you to already understand, till it’s time for lunch break and you all go together to place orders and then when the day is over, take that walk back to the room where you all recap the day’s events and talk endlessly and laugh with all your hearts till someone remembers that an assignment that you have no idea how to go about is due the next morning…

…Until you all receive your clearance certificates and throw your convocation caps to the wind and realise that no more can you be seeing each other everyday because not only are you separated by a ‘uniform purpose’ but distance and the shambolic roads don’t help matters (Shout out to the Nigerian government by the way, you don’t know this, but thanks for breaking up a few relationships! ). And well, the social media is a façade and doesn’t get any real! I mean, nowadays, you see smileys and you can’t even tell what context they are being used, so you can’t tell exactly what your friends mean anymore 😦

…Until you all get different jobs and possibly in different states and suddenly you realise where your real unbiased, absolutely uninfluenced interest and passion lies and you ask yourself ‘what the hell have I been doing with my life all the while?’ And there and then your life flashes back before your eyes and right there lies the answer.

…Until you realise that you’ve slowly run out of friends and then out of the blues you remember an old secondary school mate who you were really close to but whom you lost to your decision to have a ‘fresh start’. So that one very beautiful day, after a heavy doze of boredom almost leaves you unconscious, you decide to go through old stuffs, and thanks to an old photo album, voila! you find that one friend who by that time appears to be adorned with the regalia of a knight in shining armour. You go on facebook and luck shines on you as you find helpful contact details but, sadly, when you both gain contact, conversations would have become rather awkward to keep up with cos really, four years is a lot of time ‘to catch up on old times’ and well, YOU weren’t the only one who made new set of friends. Soon, ‘I came to this world alone,’ are the words left for you to drown your loneliness in. Damn!Life!!!

Once upon a time we were two and then three, and soon the number increased, ‘Friends forever’ we said, and trust me, we weren’t lying, but now our lives have changed. How do we make sure our friendship never stops being the truth?