The ‘meet the friends’ sessions have begun. Last week R and I attended the wedding of one of my Bristol law classmates and he got to meet a lot of people I was fairly close to.
Last evening, R and I attended my childhood friend DC’s wedding. What’s amusing is that I knew of DC’s wife before she even met DC, because she was the sister of my Bristol law classmate, SE. It’s a really small world in Singapore.
So anyway, the first people we met at the wedding was SE and his pregnant wife, JW, also from my uni. I introduced R to them (using his full name, of course) and SE said something like, “Ahh, you are the elusive ‘R’!” He then told me that if I made an announcement on Facebook, I should not leave things hanging, like the name of the boyfriend!
Halfway through the dinner I decided to look for my parents, who were friends of the groom’s parents and were sitting near the centre of the ballroom. Then I realised my aunt and uncle were there too! So they met R as well.
Then I saw my old CEO, Dr L, at one of the VIP tables, and she was waving to me! I went over to chat, and also introduced her to R. Then I realised one of my Directors, Dr RV, was at the same table! And she’s a really good sport, I like her a lot, so I chatted with her as well and introduced her to R.
She said ah, she heard something about me getting a boyfriend! I was stunned! A Director knows about my boyfriend?!?! Apparently one of her Deputy Directors, possibly Dr WML, told her about it (ahem!). It must have been through Facebook! News spreads fast – even to senior management!!!
As I was talking to her I suddenly realised that our Minister was sitting at the same table! But since I haven’t officially met him I decided that was as far as I’d take it. What could I say – “Minister K, sir, I took Minutes at one of your meetings… and BTW this is my boyfriend!” 😀
Next weekend another group of girl friends (mostly from Bristol and NUS) will be meeting R at a birthday brunch. And I will also be meeting more INSEAD alumni – friends of R. It reminds me of the song “The more we get together”, for my friends are your friends and your friends are my friends…
So I think the aura of mystery will, in time, be replaced by familiarity.