How should I tell this story? It is story of the happening in real
live, the story of beautiful people with beautiful names and beautiful
hearts. This one is a colorful story indeed. It is a story of real
people in cyberspace who came to mother earth and shakes hands and
completes those friendships. So how do I begin; so as not to lose my
train of thoughts I am writing it here as I think. To me it is an
interesting story that touches our lives as we walk the path on our
journey of life. It is a story of how the Internet has changed the way
we communicate and in the process makes friends with strangers’ .It a
story of Blogging, of Facebook and of friendship in the ever-changing
worlds of ours. It is a story of how the Internet has made our lives
more interesting and colorful. Since we homo sapient is a spiritual
being that communicate by other means as well, that till now we have yet
to understand. We must have touches each other in that plane too, thus
it explains at time why it became so easy for us to make friends even
thought we have never met physically before. It is also a story of how
our species interact in a way that we have yet to understand.
To
me image of a person is very important in making that first contact
sincere. That is why in Blogging and in Facebook the Personal profile
image is very important. It is this profile image that made us to
understand that stranger in cyberspace at firsthand. Without that
profile image of oneself in Blog or Facebook, it became impossible for
us to understand one another, thus making any progress in friendship
difficult. To me those people who refused to put on their personal
profile image are insincere folks and I would not entertain their call
to be my friend. Sincerity; that is how these friendships made in
cyberspace develops over times. Asmah and I are in our golden age
whereas Rita and Aida are still much younger to both of us, sort of from
our children's generations. Let me begin this way. It was through
Blogging that I got to know Rita Ho. Some years ago Rita would leave
comments on my Blog posting and eventually we would e-mail each other to
communicate on other subjects. I soon found that she is a Malaysian
married to an American and live in Seattle, WA.
In
the summer of 2008 Asmah and I went to Boston to attend the
Commencement of our youngest daughter at Harvard University and then
went holidaying to the other parts of US. Since we have not been to
Seattle before which is out-of-the-way whenever we get to the US, we
decided to make our first visit to this famous city in the Pacific
Northwest of the US. I had also come into contact with another blogger Louis
so I decided to kill two birds with a stone; visit Seattle and at the
same time get to meet the blogger that I had only met in cyberspace.
While staying in Seattle
we not only met both of them and their spouses but taken for dinners as
well. Louis and Elena even took their time to takes us around to
touring Seattle. Folks that is how I met Rita Ho
and her spouse David Gonsalves. We leave Seattle with a promise to meet
again. So where does Aida Marie comes into the picture. She did not
blog but follow my blog from time to time but did not leave any trace of
her visits. And then she appears on Facebook and we got connected. It
was in FB that she told me that she follows my blog and then read a
piece I wrote about meeting Rita Ho while on holiday in Seattle. They
had been close friends during their hay-days working in KL. She
eventually contact Rita and voila! They got connected again after they
had parted many years ago. It is quite normal to find friends parted
living no trace and because of their past bonding they would eventually
get connected again. I am indeed glad that she got connected back with
her friend because of that piece of my posting. Indeed cyberspace
especially blogsphere had made that possible.
Then
Rita and David decided to return to Malaysia for a holiday and with
that I thought that it would be great if these two friends could meet
again in the real world. I had invited Rita and David to tea or dinner
at our house whenever they could find the time. With that I thought that
it would be wonderful if Aida could also come for that get-together. So
I contact Aida and told her that it would be nice if she could come
over and to bring her little princess too. I have not met Aida in
person, so the get-together would be give Asmah and I to meet Aida as
well. Thus when Rita confirmed her coming over to our house for lunch, I
invited Aida too. So on January 6, 2011 at the lunch we got to meet
Aida for the first time and Rita again [David was not around for he has
gone home early]. It was the hugging at our front door of two old
friends Rita and Aida that renewed their contact that they had lost for
the last 10 years. It was indeed a happy reunion of friends; a beautiful
happening indeed that happens at our home. After the initial
introduction and getting to know everyone sat down to chats and then
without much ado we went to the dining area and enjoy the lunch that
Asmah had prepared. Over lunch we chat and yarn of things that just come
to our minds, interjected with laughter and smile, perhaps both Rita
and Aida remembers their hays day while at works or play in KL during
their younger days. Asmah and I from time to time did put some input of
the days when we were at their age enjoying life in the vibrant city of
KL. Their stories sound familiar since both Asmah and I had been on that
path before enjoying life as was the culture then.
Have a nice day. [click on image to enlarge]
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