Hello...and yes, Hello.

Some months past, there came a time when the two ill-fated friends finally managed to meet up. It all started when one decided to go to the park to sit at his favourite bench. Along came the other friend, who too decided that he needed a breath of fresh air and wandered into the park.

It was that instance as the two friends sat at on the opposite ends of the bench, turned their faces and caught sight of each other. Instantly, the two friends got up, gave each other a bear hug for the longest of time.

During that silence, it was as if the strain of time lost while searching for each other was soothed away. The look of their faces just said it all. It didn't matter how long they had taken to find each other. What matters most was that they had found each other again.

In that moment, they turned and nodded at the bench...as if to acknowledge and thank the bench for being there for them, for providing a common spot where they could find each other again.

With their arms on each others' shoulders, they walked off in silence but with the broadest of smiles.

Hello?

The same park,
The same path,
The same bench,
Two people.

Walking, yet
Seemingly looking out
For something or someone
With a seemingly forlorn glance.

For that familiar silhouette
Of a friend, who might
have slipped him by.
That familiar sight.

Strangely, the two people
just walked on in
different directions, they
in different directions.

Walking past each other,
Seated on the same bench,
at different times,
yet not noticing each other.

The irony of it all.
The same path,
The same bench,
Yet not quite.

This is how this story goes of two friends who parted after seven years and well, the friends just moved on with their lives even though they seemed to want to reach out to each other. Perhaps it's not meant to be, after seven years. To mend the hurts and the heart, so that both can move on with their lives in different directions. Though each knowing that that experience had shaped their lives in some way or another.

The bench saw these two friends, seated at different times of the day. Just chilling and reminiscing of the times that they had together. The fun times, the bad times that they went through together. Remembering how they met at their boss's office for the very first time, and both feeling that it was life's destiny that brought them together as friends.

A different posting called one of them away, just after three weeks from their first meeting. However, that friendship blossomed from then on. Never once did they look back. Though seemingly different in their personalities and life goals, each complemented the friendship and created that space to encourage, to fellowship, to share and to get on in life together through the sharing of the same struggles and pain through life's experiences and to egg each other on along life's challenges.

In a flash, seven years had passed and it was time for the pair to say farewell. It was a difficult time for both, meaning to express their gratitude towards the friendship and what they had gleaned from that. But never quite found a space to do it as there came a wall between them. Each on the side of the wall, though transparent but never could see that either was just across on the other side of it.

The bench could feel it each time as it saw the two of them. Soon, adding two and two, it made up the essence of this story.

The little things

As the bench sat there, observing
the many things that go on around.
It noticed certain little things that
others might not have noticed.

The sprouting of the flowers in springtime,
red, yellow, blue, yellow...every possible colour.
the little birds which swooped down to the fountain
at certain times during the day, perched...drinking.

The regiment of ants crawling up and down,
searching for a morsel of food.
The little children with the abundance of energy
just running around.

Eyes which were ever so sharp,
laughter so contagious,
excitable over the slightest of things.
Ahh...

Observing these little sights,
conversing that with the bench.
The bench remembered one such
conversation with this little boy.

Boy: Hi there Bench, have you noticed anything about adults?

Bench: Not too much, except that they aren't so observant anymore.

Boy: Yeah. They don't see the little things like those that we see and get so excited over. The little things, I love the little things.

Bench: I noticed that. You are always poking and finding, turning each stone around you. Looking up and down, listening, sitting, watching. Yeah...you are an inquisitive child, my boy.

Boy: My mom says that too. So energetic, she says...she can't keep up with me. Well, I like what I do. Just enjoy the simple things, not the latest toys or TV programme, not the tests or exams.

Bench: Ahh...the charm of the simple things in life. It's just so addictive. Sadly, it has lost its hold on people.

Boy: I think so too. My mom, adults...they just want to walk...and walk and walk and walk without stopping or looking down to the ground. That's where the treasure lies. Don't you think so, so many treasures on the ground. *Winks at the bench*

Bench: *Winks back* Yes, my boy. The treasures of the simple and fine things in life. Nevermind that they have lost that sense of excitement and appreciation, you have not. That makes that difference.

The bench and the boy sat there smiling that quiet smile of theirs and just looked on to find more treasures on the ground.