from the past, a present perfect

much has changed since the first time 38 and i sat in the 2nd floor cafe over almond milk tea and a tarot spread. i've gotten over a breakup, gotten 1 job, 2 titles, 3 different bosses, a typed and signed resignation, and a flight booking for vancouver. she's half-gotten over a breakup, gone to clubmed, done a triathlon, become a yoga instructor, and dealt with lifelong family issues.

much had been said with nostalgia, bitterness and hurt that first time. but tonight, she remarked, remarkably, on the two more concrete "presents" she received from her ex. first, he had been a pivotal adviser when she was trying to land the job with international courier service provider f*d*x. he had been next to her, passing on notes, in all those rounds of tele-interviews. and the second is the present of bicycling. he had forced her to get on a bike, and ride in dark tunnels or in rain halfway around the city. the man has come and gone, but she has met her mentor and spiritual teacher at f*d*x, and is training for tour de france next year (amateurish, not the actual thing a la lance armstrong).

that made me think about my own presents. he had shown me the world by igniting a competitiveness in me to be equally curious about almost everything, an eagerness and craving for information. through my own learning and travels i've expanded both outward and inward, and nurtured a love for culture and history. he's taught me the lesson of nice-just-doesn't-cut-it-sometimes. on top of that, i believe myself to possess now the ability to charm the pants/skirt off any chinese parent, even the most hardcore ones.

so, my also-crazy friend of 16 years and i proclaim tonight to be perfectly-or-not-so-perfectly happy single chicks in their late-20s, looking at the glass half full. in each of own ways we've learned from those once closest to us. as our pasts have moved on with their presents, we bid farewell with best wishes and laughter, not in reminiscence of the past, but rather in gratitude of the presents they'd given us to take away, long into our futures.