"I keep thinking about this river somewhere, with the water moving really fast. And these two people in the water, trying to hold onto each other, holding on as hard as they can, but in the end it's just too much. The current's too strong. They've got to let go, drift apart."

-- Tommy; Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro.

Life goes on and we are forced to just continue on living. Depending on each individual, the definition of living varies. There's a "Goodbye" waiting invisibly at the end of every "Hello". You meet someone, spend some time with them, exchanging parts of your lives together, then you reach the end. It's a cycle, repeating over and over again. We might've been best friends before but after the "goodbye", things might be different. We might drift apart. Sure, we'll meet up and have fun once in a while later but distance would probably mar the bond we built among us. The title "best friends" would still stick like glue although perhaps only for memory's sake. "Keep in touch," they say but it's hard especially for a person like me. I don't like keeping in touch. No, I do want to keep in touch but the idea of staying in contact for most people is social networking. I dislike that. Not that I hate social networking (how could I? I'm on twitter now, like, 24/7!). It's just that I prefer actual talking, face to face. Skype seems to be the best solution provided there's a webcam for everybody.

Not everyone wants to relive the past especially when one feels forgotten, seeing their friends with their friends. Then one would think, "They've moved on. I should too."And keeping in touch turns to a mere phrase rather than a promise. Contact between each other becomes rare. So you drift apart. Just like that.

OK. Now this post sounds sappy. To paint some bright colour into these words, I'll say this: "goodbye" allows you to meet new people. Experience new things, even, but to do that you sometimes have to let go. It's a barter system. Don't worry, we'll remain in each other's memories and I hope there'll come a time where we will reminisce and surf the nostalgic waves together.

"It's a shame, Kath, because we've loved each other all our lives. But in the end, we can't stay together forever."

Almost everything is transient.

I hope the world is a small place for us.

p/s: Regarding the book, I think it's one of my favourites. I'm not so sure about that but it definitely stays with me even after I closed it for good. It's slow-paced so I most probably will never re-read it (I rarely re-read books) but towards the end, it's heart-breakingly emotional. It's a sad book but we all need sadness sometimes.