After I went to the doctor twice, finally the pain subsided but my body was very weak. I couldn't even walk. I spent my days on bed, exercising....
Yes... Exercising....
I exercised my fingers and brain by texting, chatting non-stop on Telegram.
My high school friends are planning to have a reunion in December. Because of this, a dear friend set up a whatsapp group to gather some ideas. However we had more than 100 people, so whatsapp can't accommodate our needs. We migrated to Telegram that allow up to 200 members in a group. While most of them live in Bandung, some of us live in Jakarta, US, Malaysia and China. Telegram really suits us well.
Initially we tried to remember which friends were which. Remembering 200 people that we met 25 years ago was an ardent task for us..... the 40+ years old who always forget where we left our keys. If I can't remember what I ate yesterday, imagine trying to remember a friend whose front teeth were missing when he was in high school or a friend who sat next to this so and so. Those are the descriptions they gave when I asked them who is this guy and who is that gal.
Some uploaded blurred old high school pictures (and their current looks) but I still can't remember a lot of them. I only remember some friends who were very naughty in class. I remember friends who always cheated in the exam and got caught. I also remember friends who used to be punished by teachers for always came to school late.
Although I don't remember some of them, I managed to chat and re-acquaintance with them. The chat was mostly in Sundanese, mixed with Bahasa Indonesia. After a day or two, we got so comfortable with each other. We felt like we never parted. The chat room was ON all the time. When I had to sleep, I would wake up to see 1500+ unread thread. If I didn't open the chat overnight, the thread can fetch 4000+. There were always people chatting about something all the time. While the morning shift greeted us good morning at 5am, the night people stayed up and chatted til 3am.
What started as a reunion plan transformed into something else. We forgot the topic of reunion and chatted about something else. The topic varied from discussion about children, love, education, food, happiness, our teachers, health, medicine, adult stuffs (you know what I mean), business, money, doors and sink, and so many other things... YES, we did talk about doors and sink...!! I don't know why but we chatted about doors and sink for 2 days..!! And to make it worse, none of us is in the construction business.
Chatting with old high school friends made me smile and laugh more often. It eased my tummy pain. It killed the boredom of staying in bed 24 hours. It rekindled a lot of great memories. It added my knowledge about doors and toilet sink (or wastafel in Bahasa Indonesia). But most of all it confirmed my belief on the importance of friendship in life.
When we chatted we forgot all the superficial manners. We ditched our titles and social status. We poked fun at each other. We called each other names. We exchanged crazy silly impossible ideas with each other. We argued about small stupid things. But most of all, we made each other happy....
All of us have responsibilities at work and home. A lot of times, we work so hard to please our employers, to please our husbands/wives, to tend our children, to take care of our parents, etc etc.... But we often forget to please ourselves. Many times we don't have time for ourselves.
Chatting with my high-school friends has given me the break I need, the crazy laugh I crave and the warm feeling I lust after....
I am blessed to know that I have friends who are as crazy as I am... Friends who are as passionate about food as I am... Friends who can tell each other off without hard feeling....
To Telegram... thank you for providing free friendly platform for friends to chat...
To my friends at Telegram.... thank you for making my food poisoning days bearable... thank you for accompanying me when I can't sleep at night... thank you for the laughs (lots of them).. and thank you for saving my money... (with you,, I don't need any botox..!!)
Have a great week ahead...!!
