Between juggling work, marriage and kids, forming new friendships can be daunting. But it’s not impossible, as these women show that good friends can be found just about anywhere and at any age.
“WE KNEW ABOUT EACH OTHER THROUGH A MUTUAL FRIEND’S BLOG”
They regale each other with tales of fallen toe nails from running and brandish battle scars from mountain biking. In fact, Janice Lee-Fang, 31, a brand manager, does a little pummel in the air when Angela Leow Gray, 28, a project manager, reports a recent toenail loss. “I think the fact that we’re both not very girly is what bonded us. We both have older sisters who’d rather stay indoors with a book and do manicures and most of our girlfriends don’t understand why we’d want to go out in the sun and get dirty,” says Janice with a chortle.
The two women got to know each other through a mutual friend’s blog in 2003; both their links and photos were on his blog. Out of curiosity, they started reading each other’s blogs and leaving comments. They first met over a lunch arranged by their mutual friend. “Angela’s first reaction was, ‘Oh, I feel like such a giant!" recalls Janice.
In the early days of their friendship, they didn’t always understand each other. “Some years back, when Angela hadn’t started cycling yet, I wrote on my blog about wanting to get eggbeaters, which are a type of bike pedals. Angela was into baking at the time, so she got me an actual eggbeater as a birthday present. She realised her faux pas when I cracked up and told her,” says Janice with a guffaw.
When Angela returned from her studies in Perth in 2004, she expressed interest in mountain biking on her blog and Janice, who had been doing it for a while, promptly inducted Angela into her cycling world, and the pair spent every weekend and public holiday on the biking trail. At the time, Janice and Angela were the weakest riders in their group, so they always made it a point to start and finish together.
During their first mountain bike race in 2006, Janice and Angela held hands and crossed the finish line together and even insisted on sharing the same position on the winner’s podium. “During the race, I crashed on the fi rst loop and was in shreds. I thought Angela had long gone but she was waiting for me around the corner.
“The things we did were painful, so we commiserated; there’s some sort of camaraderie through the pain. It’s like being trench buddies,” says Janice with a smile.
However, their friendship was further tested when Angela joined the company Janice was working for in 2007. “When we progressed from bike buddies to colleagues, we set the ground rules right from the start, as she was my supervisor. We had to keep work and play very separate,” says Angela.
“It was sometimes a bit hard, I must admit. We had moments when we wanted to strangle each other at work, which we did towards the end of our time working together because we were under a lot of stress. I realised she was one of my closer friends when we had an honest chat about an issue that was upsetting us both and we ended up bawling. When you’re willing to thrash things out and fi x hiccups in a friendship, you realise that you’re pretty good friends,” says Janice.
Janice proved her worth as a friend when she recently saw Angela through the break-up of a five-and-a half-year relationship. Angela says this about her trench buddy: “Emotionally, Janice has often been my support when I’m down. She’s very grounded and not superficial, qualities I see in a good friend. I feel that I can really open up to her.”
TEXT JUSTINA TAN MAIN PHOTO GETTY IMAGES PHOTO OF ANGELIA, JEAN & JOAN JOAN LEONG PHOTOGRAPHY
