What a Difference a Decade Makes

Last week, I celebrated the wedding of one of my classmates from junior college, went for my husband's class gathering, and hosted a bunch of my friends at the kwek kampong. What do all these event have in common?
They were all times of catching up with people we got to know back when we were carefree 17 year olds. 
When I was 17
The interesting thing about friends from junior college is that up until the time we met, all our lives had largely taken the sane route. We all went through 6 years of primary school, 4 years of secondary school and have all basically been indoctrinated with the same stuff through our formal education. We all did decently well at our O levels and were somehow plonked together at 17 where we would see each other everyday for about 2 years. And then the moment we leave the institution of junior college, that's when all our lives take vastly different turns.

 I do not feel much different from the 17year old me, yet it seems none of us have escaped from the life altering tumults of a 20-something. 

With Mr Wee, a teacher who was an example for all of us to follow
In the past decade, we have fallen in and out of love. We have lost loved ones and gained new people we call family. We have changed fields of study and built careers. We have traversed cities, countries and continents. We have searched for our identities and found God.

While some people have changed beyond what we could imagine of them at 17, some things never change. Like the wry sense of humour, the heart of service, and the common history we share. 

And for all that has happened in the past decade, may we all trace the hand of the Lord in our lives. 

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