An Old Song, and People I See Less Often

I’ve been listening to George Lam’s “Chui Yik” again.

It is a song from 1984. I used to enjoy the melody and the quiet sadness in it. Listening now, I find myself thinking about people I’ve known and things that have happened over the past few years.

There were people I saw every day. We were busy together, worried about the same things, and had reasons to celebrate together too.

I assumed we would see one another tomorrow. If something came up, we could always talk.

Then, gradually, our lives took different directions.

Some of us still keep in touch. Some exchange an occasional message. Others I haven’t heard from in a long time.

There was no dramatic goodbye. One day, I simply realized how long it had been since we last met.

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When I was younger, I thought getting along well was enough to keep people in one another’s lives.

Over time, I came to see how much our lives, responsibilities and choices can change. People who once knew each other well can gradually have less in common day to day.

Of course, it wasn’t always that peaceful.

Some things were disappointing. Some relationships never felt quite the same afterwards. It wouldn’t be honest to say none of it still bothers me.

But dismissing everything that came before doesn’t seem fair either.

The days when we worked hard together and supported one another still happened. What changed later doesn’t erase them.

I can be grateful to someone and still feel differently about certain things. Looking back on a relationship, I don’t have to settle on just one feeling.

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What comes back most easily now is often something small.

The way someone spoke.

A joke that only our group understood.

The chance to sit down and talk when the work was finally done.

None of it seemed particularly memorable at the time. Now I miss it.

I remember the pressure, the trouble and the unpleasant parts too. But certain people were still there. Some things were easy to say. Some things needed very little explanation.

Even if we met again now, I doubt we could quite recover how it felt then.

We have all changed. I know that is normal. Sometimes it still makes me wistful.

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Listening to “Chui Yik” now, I think of people who were once familiar and whose lives have gradually drifted away from mine.

I remember how they were then: the things we laughed about, the work we shared, even the arguments. Those memories are still clear, though we are no longer in the same places in one another’s lives.

There are days I wouldn’t want to live through again. I can still miss the people who were there with me.

Life is busy now too. There is family, new things I want to do, and goals I haven’t reached yet.

I don’t spend all my time looking back.

But every so often an old song brings a few familiar names to mind, and I wonder how they are doing.

Some would probably still be easy to talk to if we met again.

With others, we might just nod hello.

And there are some I may never see again.

There’s a little sadness in that.

Still, I don’t need to reach a conclusion about every relationship.

Sometimes, listening to a song, I think of someone I haven’t seen in years.

In my mind, they still look the way they did then.

I find myself smiling.

And then I realize how many years have passed.