Best Before DD-MM-YYYY

Is there an expiry date for friendships?

I'd reply an immediate "no" if you were to ask me this question a few years ago.
If you were to ask me today. My answer is no longer a resounding "no".
It's a "maybe".

Perhaps there really is an expiry date. As the old adage goes.."people come people go".
It's a sure as the sun rises in the morning and sets when night arrives.
Perhaps the one up there allocated each of us a certain number of friends for each chapter of our lives. I dunno.

Leafing through the contacts in my mobile phonebook alone is enough to pay testimony that perhaps some of my friendships have reached or are way past their expiry dates.

Some expired naturally. Others expired prematurely.
And some others have expired through a lack of care and preservation.

It's saddening though. And it's even more saddening when you have tried preserving it, to no avail. You add preservatives now and then, hoping to extend its shelf life but yet, your efforts fail and the expiration still happens. It's a one-sided effort perhaps.

Then there are others which you thought were past their expiry dates. When all of a sudden they are resurrected and found not only to be still edible, but thoroughly palatable to the tastebuds.

And then there's still some which were past expiry dates but regenerate themselves and find you, only for the reason of seeking help. And when help is bestowed upon them. They fade into obscurity again. Saddening. But en meme temp, i.e at the same time, thoroughly pisses me off.

I guess. My preference still lies in the salted fishes of my life.
The well-preserved few lurking around me of which I know there are no expiry dates...
Even if there were, the dates stretch to infinity and beyond...