When we were twenty

Once upon a time we were family. We spent our early twenties together in a belief that this is life as a grown-up. She was the sister-in-law I thought would be there forever. That was when I still believed childhood sweethearts will last forever.

She had the longest hair, like a fairytale princess. She made the perfect meatballs. She was Miss Aerobics. She had a temper. She liked long lie-ins. She was a procrastinator when it came to studying. She was in love with my brother.

Something happened, I'm not sure what. They grew apart and went separate ways. A couple of years later the same thing happened to me and gone was my faith in childhood sweethearts. We didn't make it through the changes of the twenties. Perhaps we suffocated rather than nourished each other. Perhaps it was life's way of teaching us to never take anything for granted. To see things as they are and not as they used to be or how they could be one day may be.

Yesterday I met her for the first time in a decade. She looked just the same. Only happier. There was a grounded harmony, a joy and contentment. An air of happiness. Be it age, be it the impact of life experience or the result of finding the place that is meant to be. I don't know, but it was lovely to see her and to realise that she is still in my heart.