Choo Wai Lim, Sonny

I really had a jolly good time tonight. The last time I saw most of them was 32 years ago. We parted way. I thought that was the last I saw my fellow buddies...And that was Form 5 in 1974. The parting of friends in Form 6 of 1976 was a different feeling altogether....

When I walked into the party, I only recognised few and they're those I met occassionally. The rest, zilch, never know who they are!! The name tags we wore, helped; jogged and refreshed our memories.

Names I knew and called in the 1970s, in the classes, recesses and PE didn't help anymore. Before the evening started, at that split second, linking the name tag with the face it carried, I knew most of them again. We launched into talks. It didn't just happen to me, many experienced it too...

To me, it is not just about the classes, lessons, fun and events we went through together. It is about celebrating our lives and how each of us ploughed and moved on, planted our careers, raised families....

The wrinkles on the faces, sagged cheeks, receding hairline, beer bellies, coloured teeth, thick glasses are some of the assets we acquired during our long absence.

The days of Mr Lye Hai Hai, Mr Chiam, Miss Koh, Miss Cecilia, Mr Anthony Lim, Mr Dominic Yeo etc etc flashed through my thoughts. There was the headmasters I knew, Mr De Cruz, Mr D.P. Pereira and later Mr Micheal Parry.

The night went by. With it, 32 years came and slipped by too. 32 long years. The legacies some of them, teachers, my classmates left behind, I will remember until the end of my days. That night, I slept like a child and I dreamt about my days in Muar High School....