It's been 8 years since I've left primary school, 8 years since I've last spoken to anyone there. Nowadays, you would think me mad. I mean, who doesn't have Facebook, hotmail, gmail or all those other social network sites that are out there? But 8 years ago, stuff like that seemed light years away. Therefore, I lost track of all of my friends and started a whole new life in secundary school.
About 2 years ago, I got acquanted with a magnificent new type of technology: Facebook! It really is a sort of time machine with which you can find friends from the past again. And that's exactly what I did. It all started when someone from the 6th year sent me a friendship request. At first, I had the hardest time figuring out where I knew her from or if I had even met her at all! Turns out though, I spent a year with her in the same class and that she had tried to find her old friends via Facebook and I was the first one! I felt a wave of nostalgia riding over me. I immediatly racked my brain, searching for names and last names so that I could revisit my childhood somewhat. After about half an hour I had sent out 20 friendhip requests. Now all I had to do was wait until FB gave me a notification. Fortunately, this didn't take too long and before I knew it, I was catapulted 8 years in the past and I found myself reminiscing about the good ol' days.
After a few Wall posts and hilarious comments on old class photos the question finally arose: 'We should get together sometime, don't you agree?' And with this, a floodgate of questions swept over me. What would they be like now? How much have they changed since then? What would they think of me? What are they studying, who are they dating, what has happened to them over the past 8 years?
All questions, but no answers.
Immediately after this question, a proposition was made regarding the organisation of a whole reunion. The entire 6th year united again after so long and cramped together in a room where they would have the opportunity to mingle, talk and take trips down memory lane. In my case, this would surely help fill the gaps that time had made in my memory. So I was very exited to hear that a date had been set. Febuary 20th. Alas, the date didn't work for all and it was postponed twice already and now it rests on the 20th of April. But, someone couldn't wait and suggested we should meet earlier.
He was my best friend in primary school. We sat in the same class for over 5 years and had had countless of play dates. They used to say we were like brothers, two persons one mind, that kind of thing. But during our 5th year something happened. As we all started to yearn for secundary school, more responsability and adolescence, we drifted apart. I found myself spending a lot more time with then on-and-off girlfriend and the girls of my class. I'm frank enough to say that I was quite good with the ladies, a sort of junior-womanizer. But it was that kind of behaviour that caused a rift between me and my best friend. In my eyes, he never really 'matured' much then, to the extent that you can mature at that age. He stayed the fragile and docile kid that I knew and befriended. But it was impossible to stop the impending rupture to take place. In the 6th year we weren't even in the same class anymore and that was the end of our friendship. We left primary school saying we'd keep in touch, but how could we? We didn't even have each other's e-mail adresses, let alone Facebook and he was preparing to move so his phone number wouldn't have been of much use. And so 8 years passed ...
... when he asked me if we could meet up earlier than the reunion. Of course I was looking forward to seeing him again so we arranged to meet. That was yesterday. We rendez-vous'ed at Fochplein, a square in Louvain. When I arrived, the square was empty and I didn't want to be the one to just stand there looking all stupid when he would come up to me from 10 metres away and me not even recognising him. So I waited under a roof nearby. Then this boy walked up the square, disconnected from the world by way of an iPod and holding a cell phone in his hand. Suddenly I felt me jacket vibrate and I knew I would be getting a text message from him, saying he was at the meeting point. I quickly read the message (of which I already foresaw its content) and started walking up towards him. I reached out my hand and said 'Good evening' to him and in the blink of an eye I could swear I saw discontent. It might have been a trick of the mind, a misconception or perhaps even the rain, but somewhere I felt that it was more personal than that. Thirty seconds in and we were already off to a hell of a start.
But the biggest shock of all came when we sat down in a café to talk. The entire evening I tried to find my friend of old in this person again. Even a glimmer would have sufficed, but I found nothing. The person that I had known for most of my pre-adolescent life was gone. Time had taken him from me and twisted him into something else entirely, something I honestly wanted no part of. It sounds hard that I should say this, but you must understand the insurmountable difference between this person and the person I remembered. Maybe time has corroded my mind as well, maybe he was like this all along, but I highly doubt that. He used to be this skirmish, happy-go-lucky, somewhat frightened and frêle kid who hung out with me, who played video games with me and who I could turn to if I needed it. But this young man, this person was nothing like him anymore.
It seems cruel that I am denied to see my old friend again. It seems unfair that I can never get that friendship back, but I knew that to him as well, I have changed considerably. Maybe he feels the exact way about me. Maybe he also saw a glimmer of discontent and regret in my eyes when we met. But I can never be sure. All I know is that this has corrupted my entire view of the reunion of which I was so looking forward to. I wonder if all of my old friends have become warped like that. I wonder if they would be disappointed in seeing what I have become or if I would be disappointed in what they have become.
Still, those are matters for another time as the reunion is still months away. But who knows, maybe time can do me a favor and work its magic again and change all of it back to the way it once was?
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