Hi,
It’s Raya Day 6, and I’m back in Penang, though I’m starting to think I accidentally landed on the surface of the sun. 🥵I honestly thought Melaka was roasting, but Penang is on a whole different level! The heat is so intense that staying indoors is my only survival plan.
Despite the weather, my heart felt a lot cooler last night because I had a very special visitor, my old friend Anne. We all have that one friend from our university days who feels like a character written by a novelist who was being far too generous. Anne is exactly that person. Brilliant, beautiful, and from a wealthy family, yet somehow remains the most humble and down-to-earth soul you’ll ever meet. We were classmates and next-door neighbors in the hostel throughout our Foundation, Undergraduate, and Master’s studies.
We were the ultimate package deal of the department until our PhDs finally sent us to opposite corners of the globe. I went to Australia, and she went to the UK. Believe it or not, the last time we actually stood in the same room was way back in 2012, when we attended a conference together in Loughborough and I stayed over at her house. Since then, we’ve mostly kept in touch through yearly birthday wishes (we are both end-of-year babies) and occasional professional chats about our research.
After 14 years of being digital friends, Anne mentioned she was in Penang and wanted to stop by. I welcomed her into my home with wide open arms. Even though it was a short meetup, it felt like no time had passed at all. You know those friends you don’t have to talk to every day, but the second you see them, you slide right back into your old rhythm without skipping a beat? Anne is one of them. We laughed and caught up on a decade of life as if we hadn't missed a single day.
It really goes to show that true friendship isn't about how often you talk, but how little things change when you finally do. It took fourteen years and a record-breaking heatwave to bring us back together, but it was worth every second of the wait. Now, if only our research collaborations could move as fast as our talking! 😆
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