If I Had Been More Friendly....

I was watching my friend as he enjoyed puffing and blowing a stick of cigarette.

I observed him a few times as he took deep and long drags on his cigarette and expelled the smoke slowly, with style....

He looked blankly, and he was quiet and in deep thought; his mind might have wandered millions of miles away.

He had aged fast with white patches of short hairs.

And he looked dejected and rather tired.

He was more sad and blue than before....

I wondered whether he still spent many late nights over games of mahjong.

I used to mix around with him and his family in the past.

His wife was from Taiwan and to my knowledge all his children had grown up by now....

I looked at him again....

He was holding a cup of hot brewed coffee to his lips.

I could smell the nice aroma coming from my big mug of hot brewed coffee that was in my grip.

The fragrant and rich smell of coffee had really woken me up from my sleep and slumber.

I was once again ready to write my blog.

And he was ready to run his motorbike repair shop....

Then he turned around and looked at me.

We greeted one another, started some small talks, and smiled and laughed....

My coffee tasted really nice this morning after taking a big bowl of hot dried kuey teow.

And my friend had taken a plate of "long life mee" fried with cangkuk manis (a dark green leafy vegetable that tastes sweet and usually is fried with egg)....

It's amazing how life has challenged and changed all of us, making us what we are today....

But the passing encounters and the fleeting moments that we have with our family, relatives, neighbors, friends and colleagues, make us find great values, meanings, yearnings, joy and satisfaction in our lives and our love and care for one another....

If I had been more friendly....