As far as dates with my exes are concerned, I have already had three, all in a span of only two months. No, before you conjure up the image of a pathetic and aging Romeo, that is not what I had in mind.
However, surely, that must have tickled your Marites spirit for a sec, knowing the rest of you. What I meant was three separate happy meet-ups in two months, wherein I partied with former high school/uni batch and classmates once again. Ergo, my exes, silly.
Except for the one event where a handful of them old geezers could merely sit and watch our band (or ‘combo’ in the 70s lingo) perform during a scheduled gig (and thus we couldn’t really interact as much), the two other events were indeed filled to the brim with meaningful catch-ups and boisterous sharing, aptly sprinkled with unlimited replays of both old high school mischiefs and innocent blunders, not to mention private jokes only now seeing the light of day, for others to finally know about. The great reveal, one would later say.
As all homecomings go, the majority among us attending these powwows were either deeply-rooted city-based homies or those residing in central cities nearby. The remaining composite was your itchy feet (as our parents would call them) Balikbayans or returnees, those who permanently reside abroad but here for a brief visit, to visit loved ones or to escape the cold winter of the west.
Still, our mix was potent enough; it left one amused youngster who was in attendance as escort to his uncle, to blurt out, these oldies can be crazy too (but in a good way).
“We’ve got to do this more often”, that seemed to be the most accepted comment during these happy soirees among old friends, although at one point, one from among us brought up a darker possibility looming in the distance, who knows, there might not be a next time for some of us, next time.
Hush, “simbako,” I poked gently. For once, stop being the killjoy. In my mind, I thought aloud, Why not be like two others who earlier proclaimed, not in so many words, imagine, we’re now only thirty years away from being one hundred years old! Crying behind my smile on that one.
Just today, I was reading what an Aussie friend had posted on her page. She wrote: “When we understand that each day isn’t one more day but one less, we start giving more value to that which truly matters.”
Salute.
