I would never see you again

I really do, especially under current circumstances

Have you read Haruki Murakami’s “Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His years of pilgrimage” ?

I’m not talking about this famous novel. just I was listening the audiobook of it while I was driving for shopping today, this triggered something.

In the story, Tsukuru Tazaki revisits his old friends who cut him off as pilgrimage. Each time he and his old friend met and talked, the friend told him “We should catch up anytime in the future” but he thinks he’d never meet them again.

This triggers me to think about how many times I can see my friends and even my family in my life.

I live in the Netherlands. My parents, sister, brother, and many of my close friends all live in Japan.

I used to go back to Japan roughly once a year and tried to catch up my friends as much as possible.

This already means I might only be seeing them up to 50–60 times at most (I’m around 40 year-old, so this number is very much ideal). I think when I was in Japan I could meet them like once a month even after some of them got family and getting busy.

Now, under COVID-19, the world is divided. I’m no longer able to fly to Japan without thinking. I hope the situation will be better next year so I can fly to my homeland again.

When you can chat with them online daily basis, you might forget it.

But listen my friends, I would never see you again in my life. It is real.