Time's Always Time On My Mind

A Street in Paris

“Good evening, Monsieur, going out late tonight?”

As I left the keys to the Hötelier, I checked my watch and realized it was nearly midnight.I smiled and replied,

“Yep, meeting a friend just down the street”

“Okay then, it’s nearly midnight, be careful Monsieur”

"Merci" I said, and walked out the door. It was a cold & dark winter night. I remembered these streets of Paris were lively during the day, but that night it seemed eerily silent. To be honest, I felt anxious walking down the street most foreign to me this late all by myself. But the knowledge that a friend would be waiting just down the street kept me going. It was a coincidence that this old friend of mine was in Paris that night. Though he studies in France, his University was hours away from the city. That night, him having landed from a London trip, we had the chance to meet.

Just a few minutes after I arrived at Guy Möquet Metro Station, my friend appeared with his wife. They had been married for almost a year, and it had almost been 5 years since the last time I saw him, the day we graduated from MRSM Jasin. I remembered that day we were confident we’d see each other again. In fact, I was confident I’d meet most of my friends again. But I guess once we go separate ways, it’s hard for us to get around to it. However, life is determined by chains of events, and sometimes paths cross at the most unexpected times. Who would’ve thought we'd meet that night, in a foreign land, at the most unexpected time.

“Hallamak ai, dah besar ko ye? (Wow, you sure have grown up)!” I said, and greeted his wife

“Ko pon same! (You too!)” was his reply

That was my favorite quote when meeting a friend I haven’t met for a long time. To think back, so many things have changed for the last 5 years. We’ve grown up physically, but inside, we've changed a lot more. We took the Metro to an Indian Restaurant at La Chapelle, and as what most people would talk about when meeting a long lost friend, we talk about our lives, about the friends we used to know, and how they’re doing lately.

Along the journey of life, I’ve met many people. If not for social networking sites, I wouldn’t have known how they're doing these days. Time flies so fast it scares me. Hours do turn to days, days do turn to weeks, and weeks to years. We get older each and every day. Some of my friends are getting married, some are already married with children, some had just started working, some, like me, are still struggling with our studies. Some are at the top, some are pulled down. But at 23, there’s still a lot more to go through. Maybe someday we’ll get big jobs, make big money, appear on the headlines. At that time, would we look back at our past and attribute it to what we do in our younger days?

I believe each day is a whole life in miniature. The things we do, the books we read, the food we eat all determines what we will be in the future. Sleep a lot today and you might be sleepwalking all through your future life. Read a lot and do things that matter today and you might be a more successful person in the future than you can ever imagine. Most successful people in life are not merely gifted, they take little steps each and every day towards their dream. Each second of their young life matters. As the days turn to into weeks, the weeks into years, before they knew it, thanks to those daily little steps, they're living their dream.

We talked for quite a long while. When we ran out of things to talk about, I realized it was already late night. I had to go, the Metro would stop operating soon, I also had a train to catch the next morning to London. So as we parted, we bid: “See you again in a few years”. I gave it a thought, a few years from now, what would my life be like?