Have you ever been forgotten? A friend forgot to text and ask you to go on a group get-together, just because he lost count of the people in the group. Or a mom forgot to ask what kind of cookies you wanted, while she already baked walnut cookies--your sister's favorite.
Or on a slightly more serious note, a friend forgot to maintain your friendship that eventually led to friends drifting apart. And you ask yourself, why should you be the one that call first, give hangout invitation first, text first, ask 'how you doing' first. Then somewhere, you finally gave up and drifted apart.
Yes, I think I've been forgotten on a level like the above-mentioned cases. Sometimes it pissed me off, sometimes I just went on a idontreallycare mode and moved on.
But then, last Sunday, I went to see my one and only almost-89-year old grandma. She was checked in to a hospital, because there was a slight problem with her heart--which my mom said was normal considering her age. Aside from muscle pain, she was pretty okay. She talked, and laughed, and reminisced the old days.
But she couldn't tell who I was. And it took her a while to put two and two together. She confused me for my sister, for my sister's child, for my mom's grandchild, before she finally settled with "Prie's daughter". And I don't think she called me by my name that night.
And then I couldn't help but thinking, why didn't I call before, why didn't I visit more often, why didn't I ask how she was doing before. Why wasn't I be the one that maintain the relationship after all? Because if I had kept in touch better, then maybe she would remember me. She would remember me like she remembered her youth, or like the nice times she used to spend hanging out with my late grandma.
At that moment, I just fully appreciated the times when I came over to her house and she would greet me by calling my name and said "most beloved granddaughter" in Dutch. Yep, pardon the cliche but, penyesalan selalu datang belakangan kan? And all I can do now is do this keeping-in-touch thing better than before.
So. The moral of the story is--if there's any--life's too short to drift apart. Maybe it's time you take up on those offers to grab coffee, or a movie, or just to hang out, with your friends, or boytoys, or Dads.
On a note that is probably wrong on some level, I wonder if my gram remembers my younger step sister better than she remembers me...
