There's So Much With Life Begins At Fourty

Way back in 1998 if I were not mistaken, I had a friend who was turning 40 that year. He used to be a close friend since we were teaching the same subject at school and both of us were in the evening school session. Actually, he was such a cool guy and I haven’t met anyone as cool as him before. Somehow, when he turned 40, he was even cooler than ever hahahahaha…

Well, one day, he was talking about how important to be healthy and fit, and as usual I would listen attentively to every word he said and agreed to almost all the ideas he threw out of his smart mind. Really, he influenced me a lot in the every aspect of life. Towards the end of our conversation, he suggested that we would start going to the gym and I as usual I agreed, and started going to the gym every 2 or 3 days in a week, every week.

After a few months, both of us had a lot of improvement with our figures and we tend to be more fit than before. However, I started to notice that he had also changed the way he dressed-up. He always tuck-in his shirt and wore socks and shoes every time we went out, even at night. To me, it was not that unusual since I used to be in the army but to many of our friends, they started to talk behind his back.

At first, I never really took seriously of what other people would say about him, since I never really into this kind of behavior and I mean I HATE PEOPLE TALK ABOUT OTHERS especially something that is not nice to say, furthermore, if it has nothing to do with them! To me, what the hell is wrong with some changes a person made especially if the changes make the person feels good about himself/herself, makes him/her more happier, cheerful and vibrant.

However, later, I heard people were saying that my friend was having an affair. Oh, and yes, he was married and had 4 children from the marriage. The words spread fast and became viral until I met someone totally a stranger, not even had anything to do with him, talk about the matter. To me, it had gone way too far.

I went to his house and had lunch with his family. I noticed that his wife did act a little bit strange as if they were having difficult times together. So, we went out and asked him about what I heard of what people were saying about him.

I remember, he just smiled at me and asked me back if I believed what I heard. I told him that how would I know since he never spoke to me about it. It didn’t take long, just about half an hour for him to explain what was going on and everything was clear to me.

There was this woman, also a teacher from a nearby school, whom was having a broken relationship with her husband, had contacted him and kept telling everybody how she had fallen for him even though he didn’t really respond to her. And due to extremely efficient work of broadcasting news among a few teachers, the stories became sensational and ended with a variety taste of spices making it looked delicious to spread it around and around.

(to be continued)

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