Dear You,

If you could wave a magic wand and have three people re-enter your life – be it only for one day – whom would you choose, and what would you do?

I’m sure in moments of nostalgic aberration, we all fall victim to wishful thinking of this nature. Perhaps even I may make a cameo appearance on someone else’s wish-list. Perhaps I may be fortunate enough to appear in yours…

As for me, I would like to think that the choice is a simple one. My dear grandfather, my stalwart supporter, would be my first and foremost. My mentor of old would also make the cut, if only to take the opportunity to express gratitude. But the list would be incomplete without you, my friend.

Certain memories may have lapsed over time, but I do remember you for the one who imparted to me that letters addressed with “Dear You” can equally come from the heart. I remember that evening as vividly as it was yesterday, as if from a still in our lives, as it were. Apart from this, it would be untruthful of me to say that I’ve reminisced about you every day. In fact, years have gone by that I have thought very little of you at all; the void left by your friendship having been filled, more or less, by a string of flimsy acquaintances since. However, just when I envisaged that you have ceased to have an imprint, a memory of you would resurface, jolting me with a pang of consciousness and the guilt of a friendship curtailed.

Now that I have conjured you from the abyss of the past, the memories come freely. The scintillating conversations, the enigmatic meeting of minds and the ease with which I had come to entrust you with my most sacred thoughts. It is not the length of time by which to measure our friendship but the depth of our exchanges generated in the short space of time spent in each other’s company.

I would also like to think that there would be one more day with you; however fleeting, however remote. I’d imagine the day to entail a long, leisurely walk with you, wherever you are. We would just talk, as if nothing else mattered, with all the responsibilities that enslave us falling away with every step that we take.

I look forward to sharing the laughter and the tacit understanding that comes only with the joys of reconnecting with a long-lost friend. If there was one friend for whom I felt the gravities of separation would not apply, I would have, without a doubt, pinned my hopes on you. In short, I have lost all sense of time when it comes to my thoughts of you.

I don’t know if this letter will somehow make its way to you one day. Life works in wondrous ways; it is not entirely beyond the realms of possibility. If it does, I’d want you to know how infinitely rare it must have been to meet someone with whom I felt an effortless (almost instinctive) connection, and for that, I shall be grateful to call you my friend.

Above all, I hope you have a great life; and that it will continue to treat you kindly.

Touching Friendship Story – Short Film by Julian Yan

“Friendship is like a violin; the music may stop now and then, but the strings will last forever.”