50 Pounds Later...

Finally had time to meet up with my high school buddies today. There's just 5 of us in our barkada and probably around 15 in our extended one. We usually meet-up for Christmas but with work parties and family reunions, it was just hard to bring all of us together.

One of my best buds arrived from China. She arrived on the day I left for Singapore last week and I just arrived in the nick of time for our annual Christmas get-together. Time flies so fast we just realized today that we've been together for more than 23 years now. We were just high school freshmen when fate sat us in class together. We figured that since we were all seated together then we'd be friends (it was that simple before!). So for all four years of high school we ate together everyday at the lunch counter.

We all had varied interests and we practically did not see each other when we went to college (to think we all went to the same university). What kept us together though were some traditions we started off in high school. Here are some:

1. Valentine's day - we weren't popular in high school and we were definitely wall flowers during high school dances, so we made a pact that until we marry we'd celebrate Valentine's day together. We still have two singletons so we continue to celebrate Valentine's together -- usually a day before or after now.

2. Christmas - I don't really know how it started, but for many years now we each create our own wish list and send it to each other and we buy our Christmas gifts based on that and that reassures us that we received gifts we really like during Christmas. And, of course, we always get together for the holidays.

3. Bridal Showers/Baby Showers - we do this for each other depending on who's getting married/having a baby.

4. Summer outings/out of the country trips - we do this every once in awhile and our brood's growing so we try to make sure that we go to places where the kids would enjoy.

5. Always have something the same - it may be pajamas, a blouse, a bag, Christmas decors or whatever catches our fancy. Every year we get something the same. Mababaw lang but it keeps us together.

We don't really see each other that often nor do we keep tabs each other through social networking sites, but our friendship has so far been fun and meaningful through the years.

Love you girls! Here's to xx more pounds! Haha.