The photograph
Photographs are nothing more than a mere visual record and projection of nostalgic moments that had happened in the past. They are unable to capture the intensity of every emotion felt, whether a moment of joy, a passionate gaze at someone who had once occupied or continues to occupy a portion of our thoughts, or a simple feeling of peace and harmony that permeates our hearts when being in the presence of these people who are so good for our souls.
Only God knows how great of a length I am willing to sacrifice to travel back in time to feel these incredible moments again from the past. Even if I could just for a few seconds. My heart palpitating, grinning from ear to ear in spontaneity, feeling blissful and loved as I held and stared at these photographs, eternally grateful to these people who had once crossed my path; some stayed and some left, but both shared these wonderful moments with me.
People say you can only count the number of true friends we will carry to the end of our lives with just our fingers. This, unfortunately, is a sad reality. Some friendships get stuck along the way, and are lost due to gradual disagreements, misunderstandings or curable wounds that we did not reach in time to treat. Time and distance, in a sadistic and merciless fashion, are responsible for weakening and erasing the remaining memories of these friendships, like the declaration of love written on the sand by the beach on a windy day.
Over the years, I have come to the sad realisation that people change indefinitely over time, for better or worse. I realised we often place expectations on our fleeting friendships, to a certain degree, that we sometimes fall into the trap of disappointments when we see them again later in the years to come for not meeting our respective expectations.
But isn’t this the purpose of life? Learning to respect the different choices others make, understand their reasons and love them the same? Even if unreciprocated, undeniably they are part of our history. After all, they are part of what has shaped the person I am today.
Looking past these disappointments, oblivious to these expectations, my sentiments transport me to different realms in the past each time I look at these photographs. Although far from killing my longings, my heart smiles, my lips curve, as I recollect those lost moments over the years in my head just by looking and feeling these photographs. Even though these friendships are long gone, we shared some of the most incredible moments of my life.