From primary school
to secondary school
to university

We were once just children, then teenagers, then young adults, sharing desks, laughter, struggles, and dreams we barely understood. At every stage, we were trying to find our feet, uncertain, hopeful, and becoming.

Back then, life felt long. We believed there would always be time.

But now, we are older. We have lived, struggled, achieved, and changed. We are approaching a stage we once thought was far away, retirement.

And now, we begin to look back.

We talk about our classmates.
We try to reconnect.
We reach out, hoping to rebuild what time has scattered.

But sometimes it is not easy.

Sometimes, the silence is louder than the memories.
Sometimes, pride, distance, or past misunderstandings stand in the way.
Sometimes, a few individuals make it hard to gather, hard to trust, and hard to feel that sense of belonging we once had so effortlessly.

It is strange how, even now, on platforms created to reunite us, we sometimes return to our secondary school ways, holding on to cliques and quiet divisions instead of choosing the connection we once longed for.

And yet…

The desire to reconnect remains.

Because deep down, we know something important
from primary school to secondary school to university
We started together.

Before the titles, before the successes, before the struggles, we were simply classmates.

Now, more than ever, this is the time to choose connection.

To grow beyond who we were.
To relate differently than we did then.
To see each other not as we used to be but as we are now.

Not perfectly.
Not all at once.
But intentionally.

To reach out, even if not everyone responds.
To hold on to the good, even if some moments were difficult.
To build bonds with those willing and make peace with what cannot be forced.

Because reconnection is not about everyone returning, it is about those who can, those who will, and those who still value what we shared.

As we near retirement, we are given a quiet oppoǰrtunity

To gather again.
To remember again.
To belong again.

The classmates I had…
may not all return the same way

But those who do make the journey worth it.

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