reunion with old friends

Last wednesday, i received a call from my mom saying she was informed by mang oca (our former long-term driver) that he had spotted cora magsaysay, one of my mom's best friends. we've been looking for them for so long trying to find them on friendster and all that. at last, their family and ours got in contact again after soooo long.

I couldn't even remember when we last saw the magsaysays. my mom said it was around 8 to 9 years! imagine, i wasn't even a teenager then! when i found out about them being around still, i was really glad that we would finally get to see them again. i had faith that we would.

Now tita cora invited us over to her birthday celebration so we went. It would've been better if my brother and sister were with us but nonetheless, i wanted to see them! as we were driving to their place in loyola grand villas, i was actually a little bit apprehensive because being my insecure tendancies, i was thinking if i was ready to meet them again. i decided to throw all that and grab this chance to catch up on old times with i think, the best family that we have come across in our entire lives as a family ourself. on the way i started reminiscing all the times we've spent together, tiny fragments of memorable instances, mostly sillyness that we used to do.

It took us a while to find their place coz it was a big subdivision and as i said, it was eons when we last went there. When we found their place, the nostalgia was undescribable. the house was a bit worn out but it was still as nice as i recall it. when we entered, i had this surge of emotions and it felt like it was only yesterday that i was there. the aquariums, the upside-down bikes, the dogs, the christmas decors, they were so different yet so familiar. but what got me the most was the smell! oh my god the smell! tita cora smelled the exact same way she smelled ever since! it got me like bullet, as in i was like in a nostalgic nirvana of the good old days. i was incredible that i couldn't keep it to myself and i started telling janet all these childhood memories we had together!

tita cora looked different from what i pictured her to look like. she was less plump and wrinkles are now evident. tito cesar was still fat but his hair was gray. i wasn't sure if i wanted to meet the kids right away though. i imagined it would be a bit awkward for us coz we're not my mom and tita cora. but i'll get to that later on. now in their living room, i immediately looked at the family pictures to get a look at what they look like now. i assumed that in the span of 9 years, people would look a lot different. the one pic that i remember had tito cesar, tita cora, kristine and carla who looked equally dashing and all grown up, and a chubby guy who i assumed was gabby because i really didn't get to spend much time with him that's why i had a very faint image of what he looked and might look like now. i wondered why raffy wasn't there in the pic. i decided to let it pass for the moment...

I went around more to look at their seven german shephards with individual cages and just thouht to myself, man these guys are rich. then tita cora called raffy and carla over to meet us. i first saw carla who peeked out the door and screamed to her brother "rap! si jacky chan!" which i know was a joke knowing her sense of humor. i waved hi back. it's different to see someone in a picture and in person. in the pic she was all glamoured up, but when i saw her in her house clothes, she looked sooo familiar. actually among all of them she changed the least! she's still this short morena girl that had a pleasant smile. she's now a councilor in zambales at 22! impressive. then raffy went out. man has he grown. but he was quite like what i assumed he would. he was lean, with that same smirk on his face. it was however quite surprising to see his bad ass image. he's a smoker apparently and he had this big scar on his forehead. it was weird coz i really didn't know what to say. i mean i know i could've chatted a lot more but i had a hard time asking him what's up and where he got the scar. it was such an awkward moment with me just sitting there and him smoking beside me, not talking...i recalled when as kids we would also have a hard time catching up when we haven't seen each other in a while. imagine what 9 years would do, plus the fact that we ain't kids anymore who would get along with any given toy or cartoon program. it was definitely weird but i really hope that we could become close again eventually coz i think he's the only genuine friend and playmate i had as a child and now that we're reunited, i would like to renew that bond. i later found out that he got the scar from a recent motorcycle accident.

We were just sitting around when my mom pulled me over saying she needed to tell me something. i knew at that moment that something was wrong, i mean the look on my mom's face was beyond words. she told me news that shocked me. after 9 years without communication, we missed out on the magsaysays and didn't even know that gabby, their eldest son, has already passed away in 1998 in a car accident. man i couldn't believe it! now i know why there was only one son in the family picture, that was raffy when he bulked up, and gabby was no longer with them. in all honesty i didn't know how to handle it, i never had a close friend that passed away in such an early age. it was sad and my mom even cried. even though it has been more than 6 years already, the news was well new to us...

i couldn't help but be a bit emotional myself coz we had such a good time as kids! gabby was brother's partner, kristine and carla would join my sister, and raffy and i were the ones who paired up. janet was too young then being a late addition to our family. we were so close and we enjoyed doing the same stuff since our ages had one year intervals (jim-1979, julie-1980, kristine-1981, gabby-1982, carla-1983, jax-1984, raffy-1985...janet-1992). Now that gabby's gone, it just won't be the same...

then i noticed a little girl in a pink outfit running around with the invited charity kids. i then found out that she was kristine's 3-year old daughter, miggy. it was not much of a surprise coz i guess it is in kristine's character to marry young (not in a bad way). in a few more minutes, kristine came back from getting some ice cream. she's still that tall black beauty that i recall her to be. she had this boyfriend who was likewise tall, and i assume miggy's a result of their love.

reuniting with the magsaysays overwhelmed me with mixed emotions. joy, excitement, apprehension, insecurity, sadness, anxiety, laughter, and most of all nostalgia. Those were the days i tell ya. It was a familiar feeling that i missed so much that it took me quite a while to just take everything and familiarize myself again. It was really good to see tita cora and tito cesar again. same with the rest of the family. i'm really looking forward to spending more time with them now. i just hope that things would as great as they once were.