Forever and almost always

High School Graduation. Many see it as the end of an era and the start of the rest of their life. For some, this will be the best years they will ever have, and for others it will be the starting point for theirs. But a choice has been made. One that either carries you further away from your friends or one that keeps you together. Either way, the time has come to leave high school and jumpstart the future.

When the goodbyes are said, that's when suspension of disbelief takes over. The KIT's are thrown around as if they were candy and the promises of "We'll be friends forever" are made with the best intentions, I'm sure, but that won't stop them from breaking their promise later on.

During those six wonderful/so-so/dreadful years of high school, we make friends and we forge relationships with others we think are going to last a lifetime. We believe too greedily in the concept of happily ever after or friends forever. It's curious to think that nobody ever says "We're going to be friends for years", no, they almost always say "We'll be friends forever". Such notions of timelessness and infinity are used too carelessly even though we know the value of those words is priceless. To think of an everlasting friendship or an everlasting love is intoxicating, which explains why so few people choose to say what they really mean, e.g. a love that only lasts as long as two people allow.

At some point, we all think it, but we never say it: "Friendships aren't built to last". Something inevitable, fate perhaps, always creeps in and robs us from our expectations. When two people have been together for many years, there will always be cracks in the relationship. Moments of deceit, jealousy, sex, hatred, envy, love, promiscuity, happiness, pain, sorrow, ... and these moments never seize to have an impact on both parties. Some relationships will have the power or the resilience to bounce back from such tragedies or heartheaches. Others will find their doom in such moments.

After the initial blowout that has shattered the bond between two people into a million pieces, you have two options:

1. You can either try to mend the pieces in an attempt to revive the relationship, knowing it will never be the same
2. Or you can try to walk away from the debris, erasing all traces of the existence of said bond and move on.

Neither one of these options is bulletproof however, as one can never anticipate the reactions of another. If you're lucky, you're able to resuscitate the relationship and you will come fairly close to the one you had before, but not quite. If you're unlucky, that person is forever lost to you. The only thing that can save you now, is time. Just wait it out and hope that you two will one day meet again and your lives become entangled once more.

But there's no need to despair. There are billions of people in this world, billions of possible relationships. As one door closes, another one opens. Who knows, maybe one of them has the potential of infinity and maybe he/she will make you want to be the best that you can be. And over time, all thoughts of past troubles will be forgotten and you can start anew.

In a way, friendships are like cities. As a city persists on changing, so do friendships. With each passing day, the cityscape alters, making every day impossible to predict and unable to push back the tides of change. Some buildings are torn down to make way for new ones and others who have been there for ages, are being renovated to better fit into the urban mosaic. And for as long as cities shall stand, so too will friendships.