(Sample post: the people and events in this story are made up for display purposes.)
I first read The Little Prince in Year 3, and back then it was just a picture book to me: a boy with golden hair, a very dramatic rose, and a weird snake. I remember finishing it totally confused about why grown-ups loved it so much.
This term our reading circle picked it, so I dug my old copy out from the bottom shelf. This time I got stuck on the chapter with the fox. The fox explains that you have to “tame” each other before you become special to one another. As a kid I thought it was just a cute conversation. Now I can see it’s really about friendship.
I immediately thought of my best friend from primary school. We lived in the same apartment building, walked to school together every day and split snacks outside the corner shop downstairs every weekend. After I moved to Australia, we messaged every day, then every week, then mostly just “Happy New Year.” Nobody stopped caring. We were both just busy figuring out new lives.
At reading circle, someone said taming takes time and a bit of patience. That’s when it clicked for me: all the hours we “wasted” hanging around downstairs weren’t wasted at all. They’re exactly why she’s still one of a kind to me.
That night I didn’t send a text. I got out a postcard and wrote her an actual letter. I told her about my school here, the coastal path where I finally learned to ride a bike, and the book I’d just reread. At the bottom I drew a pretty wonky fox.
Three weeks later her reply arrived, with an old photo of the two of us outside our building tucked inside. She said she was rereading the book too. Now we send each other a postcard every month. If there’s a book you “didn’t get” as a kid, try it again. It might have been waiting for the current you.