Old Friends

I’d like to think we are not that old yet. Most of us have just reached the ripe age of 60 and we call that being  senior citizens  here.

Tuesday afternoon was another day so memorable to me. A small group of high school batch mates came over for a visit.  The batch is having a grand reunion come January 2018 and the core group is busy contacting classmates and batch mates to attend. If I am not mistaken, this will be the 7th grand reunion since 2003.  We left the portals of  the University of Santo Tomas Education High School almost forty-five years ago.  I attended three  reunions in the past and some small get-together in between.  It is always nice to get in touch, renewing friendship and old ties.

Willie took some shots in his cellphone.

 

Of course, the smiles would always be there.

I remember our days in high school.  Coming from the province, it was hard for me to adjust during the first few months of my high school days. I was a shy kid, not really that friendly.  Imagine, immersing your student days in a big university with new  classmates, teachers, environment and all.

Life in high school.

There was a separate entrance for boys and girls. We were in the morning session while the boys were scheduled in the afternoon.  We only get to mingle together during school activities like the different programs, Sunday masses, Christmas celebrations and the like.  Some of my classmates though managed to meet the boys and became boyfriends/girlfriends.  The excitement of youth…haha  🙂

No stress.

We always emphasize that we would just enjoy the camaraderie when we see each other which is not often.  But always, always, there will be laughter. Most of us have our families now, some of us with grown kids and grandchildren.  We enjoy reminiscing about high school days, keeping up to date with news  about other classmates who  have gone ahead of us.

Food.

No get-together would be a success without food, right? I prepared a simple pasta dish for them  and ensaymada.  They brought me a big box of ensaymada too of a different brand. No matter how simple the fare is, what is important  is being together.

Hopefully, we will see each other again one of these days. Elsa, who came alone  ahead of the group said, ” Now that I know your place, I would surely come over to visit you again”.

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The Best Gifts

Oh, the comfort – the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person – having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are, chaff and grain together; certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then with the breath of kindness blow the rest away.”
–  Dinah Maria Mulock Craik

I’ve been a lazy bug lately. No, don’t get me wrong. I am just resting my weary body from fatigue. The last few days, I was so busy that I was not able to check my blog and post something.  Finally, I found time to sit here for a while  and update my blog. When you haven’t been blogging for a week, it seems as if you’re starting all over again.

It’s all worth it though because our little potluck  lunch party was a success – lots of food, laughter and sharing. Those precious and priceless moments that only friends can enjoy together, something worth-reminiscing and the thought of it makes me smile.  We were joined by two priest friends, Fr. Tacky, a Franciscan and Fr. Boy, a Dominican. Not that it matters that they belong to different congregations because  they both studied in Rome and met there.  We took lots of pictures of course, what’s a party without those wacky poses and shots that make us laugh. We even have to use a tripod so we could all fit into the frame. There is this picture window  at our house that never fails to attract our friends and visitors to have their pictures taken there. Believe me, it has become some sort of trademark for the members  of our Catholic community  who drop by when they are on vacation.

We had an exchange of gifts just for fun. Imagine the laughter we had when we simultaneously opened them and found things like a roll of tissue paper which Darlene said she will take with her on her trip back to Abu Dhabi, a small bottle of efficascent oil from Reena  which Matt got, packs of marshmallows  and so many more. What do you think, the gift should only be worth P30 and what can you buy with P30?  Reymon, aside from bringing three whole roast chicken gave us individual bags of gifts from Bench.

They were surprised to learn that eating green mango with the skin on is the best way to eat one. I asked Joan to bring me some and when they saw me eating a slice, they all tried it  except Matt 🙂  Endless laughter!

We can’t get enough so the party extended on to early dinner with ice cream, Fuji apples  and suman na pinipig (the best  suman I’ve tasted) for desserts. And they all said, “sa uulitin”.  Until next time guys.

One of the best gifts that we could ever have is the gift of friendship.

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