I have never been fond of growing up. In my mind, there are too many great things about childhood and youth, a lifetime simply is not enough for me to explore them and be satisfied. Fairy tales, folklores, and games are among my favorite things about childhood. Sure, I could still explore those child-appropriate things in my adulthood, but they somehow don’t have the same magical feelings as they once did. I guess it’s because as the time passes, I’ve seen more and more things in reality that have lessened the magical effects of imaginations and tales. To this day, I sometimes still envy Peter Pan for being able to not grow up.

Another thing I’ve missed is being carefree. As I get older, more responsibilities seem to have been put on my shoulders, and I suddenly found myself thinking about finance and insurance. This adulthood thing is no fun. I feel like there’s no place to be reckless or do something on a whim, because now my life depends on me, and if I made mistakes, that would be it.

And on top of that, life seems to be pushing my friends further away from me, either because of work, family, love, or other things. As the world seems to be getting smaller thanks to technology, I sometimes feel it’s getting bigger when my friends move to the other parts of the country/world, and I can only see them every once in a while.

I think it’s generally acknowledged that making good friends in your 20s wouldn’t be as easy as in your younger years. This is something I can attest as I met all my good friends before what I consider as ‘adulthood’.

Anyway.

My friend Fiona was no exception. I met her in college, introduced by a guy I was dating. The relationship eventually ended, but our friendship continues.

To be honest, I can’t quite pinpoint the exact time we met, or how we met. And when I asked her, she couldn’t remember it as well. It was somewhere in the jumble of college memories, between the frenzy of ‘work hard, play harder‘ attempts and balancing out grades with social life (oh good ol’ time).

The last time we saw each other was… I don’t know. It was before I left for Southampton, which means it must have been more than 2 years ago. The thing is, she’s been working in Borneo for the last few years, so meeting up has been a bit tricky. Sometime last month, we were talking about dreams and my photography business, and being a supportive friend that she is, she offered to help me with my portfolio. Of course I said yes, because, hello, gorgeous model.

For this little session, she flew all the way from Balikpapan, and one morning, we got up early and went out to get some shots.

It was a beautiful morning. The mist still hung in the air, dispersing the sunshine into soft lights, giving us stunning pictures with a touch of tranquility, something I thought was impossible to get in Jakarta.

In 2 days, we did a catch up about things in our lives. Work, dreams, love, and other things. I didn’t realize I’d missed her so much until that weekend, and by the time we said goodbye, it felt like something had been lifted off my chest.

It was a good weekend, from which I got ample amount of beautiful pictures for my portfolio, and good conversations enough to fuel me through the next week. All those things made getting up early so worth it (seriously, I don’t even get up that early for work), even with sleep deprivation and cold that followed.

A hearty thanks and big hugs for this stunning lady for all she’s done.

Until next time, Fi! 🙂