Relative as it is, friends are defined in a number of ways. As for me, having them is a need, a life demand. I could never think of life without these people. Not only would it be boring, I think my life itself would not be life at all. It would be dead or worse, owing to the fact that even dead people themselves have friends who miss them! 

Time should not be enough to dissuade friendship from carrying on. If friends extend their role beyond time then perhaps they were also present before it? Soul-mates call you may, my friends came in different points of my life. Although some remained, others physically distant, and a few probably totally lost, the experience of friends is found in the magic of every single moment and the collection of good things (and bad things) shared with sincerity. 

Be that as it may, it is not very clear how my childhood friends and I started to know each other. Perhaps it all began in grade school when I started off as a newcomer and then found myself singing, prancing, and do almost everything with everybody else. My memory with them may be a little faint but I do remember the glee and innocence we shared. I cannot of course recall all of their names nor faces, however a few have been with me side by side up to high school, college, and even up to now.

As I reached the point of tranquil settlement with the set of friends I had and looking for new ones seemed  unnecessary, no less than the old ones came my new friends. As I was away from my family, these new people who came as strangers started listening, encouraging, and sympathizing. Although I had my defenses up at first, they too showed love and acceptance that expanded the space in my heart to welcome them as a new need I would no longer live without. 

Whether old or new, time does not control the path of friends nor can it predict it. The timelessness of friendship cannot be fully deciphered. In spite of this, it is more important to me that I have them because they are vital to my living not for what they can give but for who they are and what i become when i am with them. At the end of the day, I find myself in peace and happiness that I have so far existed with friends who tag along for whatever reason... even if there is no reason at all!