It was November 2000. My Advanced Diploma clases had recently started. Since our actual class was under renovation, our lessons were conducted at Pusat Inovasi. She was with her group of friends and they were singing Matchbox 20’s If You’re Gone. At that moment, I knew that Jan and I could be good friends.
I got to know Jan better coz she always hung out at my firm/group because two of her housemates are my group mate. From there, I found out that we have so much things in common. We are both bookworms where storybooks are concerned, we are both movie buffs who are suckers for romantic movies (she knew about The Truth About Cats & Dogs), she watched most of the sitcoms I watched since the 80’s and she is mad about music. We would sing songs which goes way back in the 80s to the latest in the music scene.
During our second semester, we became closer because I would spend the night at her house in Shah Alam to finish group assignments or to borrow her printer (to print an assignment which is due that morning..me being a last minute person!) She’d tell me about her family whose names I knew by heart, how she dotes on her nephews and niece and update me on her third brother’s relationship with someone who loves books as much as she does (Cheychey and Kak Ida’s courtship ended with their union as husband and wife). Perhaps it was fate, I had her as my mentee when we played the mentor-mentee game. She introduced me to Living Cabin where I happily spent my allowance on cute letter sets which we both love to collect. It didn’t go to waste coz on top of meeting in class, we would also write to each other. We called ourselves Anne Shirley and Diana Barry, the characters in one of our favourite books, Anne of Green Gables.
We maintained our close relationship even after we graduated. It was because of her I applied at the firm which I did my chambering and subsequently worked. We both chose dock brief as our legal aid program and got to be on duty on the same day. At night, we would call each other and talk for hours. I’d go to her house for kenduri, watched dvds and go out on weekends. We had a wonderful time at The Corrs concert, singing almost all of their songs at the top of our voices and shouting, "JIM, I LOVE YOU!!" ;op
We were called to the Bar on the same day. My grandmother commented that we looked like sisters. When we look at the picture, my God, we do look alike!!
In Jan’s Friendster Photo Album, there’s a photo which was captioned that she and I have a unique relationship. A few days ago, I celebrated her birthday not only as her bestfriend but also as her sister in-law. Isn’t it every bestfriend’s dream that they’d be bestfriends for life? Who would’ve imagined that we would eventually become family? Who would’ve thought that she would be an aunt to my children? Isn’t it amazing that the babies whose cukur jambul kenduris I attended are calling me Mami Yong? It is indeed the most surreal thing :o)
