AwalkwithMO

Years back, I had the pleasure of witnessing my little sis and Little bro dressing up for their first day in secondary school and straightaway..it gave me a feeling of Déjà vu. We all know that feeling – witnessing your siblings or kids growing up so fast. Where did time go?. The feeling of adrenaline rush, feeling like you’re in that moment with them but unfortunately your moment of shine was decades ago. This is theirs now, not yours.

They stood there in close proximity all dressed up and ready to go.. and for a moment it made me reflect on what it was like for me on my first day and what lies ahead. In retrospect, at secondary school you are like a caterpillar entering the metamorphosis phase of your life. A lot of temporary and permanent changes are formed during this stage. Some you cherished, some you didn’t.

Founded in 1925 and inaugurated by his Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales (then) – now King Charles III’s. The Prince of Wales Secondary school was one that I was fortunate to spend 5 years of both my junior and senior education before moving to the UK. A school of tradition, culture, sports, drama, science, art, music, religious equality etc. However, nothing beats the long-term friendship bond harvested in this school. You could say the same for the secondary school you attended.

Friendships cultivated through various encounters such as : troublemaker, class clown, sports, school prefect, drama/acting or simply just being a smart-head in your class. Along with being one of the selected school prefects, I was top of my class in most years where I also battled with other smart heads – yes my ass got kicked a few times but it was all fun and love. It brought out the best in some of us. Ironically , ‘Drama/stage acting’ was the main spotlight for me.

I gained my stage acting reputation during Primary/elementary school so by the time I was enrolled into secondary school news had already reached the Drama teachers at the Prince Of Wales school – the rest was history.

Indeed, I would like to think I was a young promising stage stage actor in those days. We competed in National Secondary school Drama competitions driven by the Government. A very competitive event. We won many titles to a point every school (Boys/Girls/mixed) trembled when we approach the stage/s.

My visit seven years later urged me to re-kindle a part of past with some friends. Some of us kept in contact over these years; others I haven’t heard from for a while. To re-kindle this past, the common ground of familiarity is football – our favourite sport.

Prior to my arrival, I organised and reached out to those I could at the time. In return, they also helped inform the others. The word was out in no time to a point where I found it difficult to select the teams and sort out refreshments. It was obvious that the place of this link-up was no other but our school – where it all started.

So, the school playground it was. The dusty red ground like that of cayenne pepper. The wobbly surface like that of cracked side walkways or chipped titles. Sweats dripping down from the epidermis as if it were a rainy day but the blazing sun speaks otherwise.

Faces I haven’t seen in years showed up, faces that haven’t seen other faces in years also showed up. It was like being in the school all over again. The game was competitive, nevertheless filled with laughter.

After the game, we had refreshments, laughed a lot and reminisce on the old days before going our separate ways – hoping maybe we would cross paths again. The score was a 2-2 draw. In such games you can’t have winners due to ego and I must say it was a good decision because it leaves a room of hope for continuation for my next visit. Hence we agreed to keep it as a draw and not take it to penalty shoot outs.

What a day..one that we’d never get back but the moment shared was priceless.