The Essence of Me

This is what I felt last Saturday when I was with the girls. Thirteen years is a long time and in that period we’ve grown, made other friends, fought our own battles, and lived our own lives. But even now, there’s still a bond that connects us to one another. It’s almost imperceptible, because unlike other “barkada” we don’t regularly spend time together. In fact, there was even a time when we lost touch for a couple of years. But when we do see each other, it’s always the same thing … like we were still silly high school girls, stalking our crushes, picking Indian mangoes and avocados, and jumping from rooftops.

We had lunch at Kimono Ken (love the food here!) and did some catching up. We originally planned to go videoke-ing but after we started talking we decided to just stay in the restaurant. Or so we thought. We reminisced about our previous get-togethers, and how our plan to go to Tagaytay for our birthday celebration never pushed through. Right then and there we decided to go on a road trip and have dinner in Tagaytay. It was just like the old days, when after school we would suddenly decide to go to my house, or Mayeng’s, or Sileng’s, or Cleng’s. We stopped by Mayeng’s place to borrow some jackets, print a map, and to ask permission from Mayeng’s mom. I could see she was surprised and maybe a bit worried. I guess she still sees us as kids … it’s understandable, after all, the four of us are in agreement that whenever we’re together we feel like nothing’s changed. 

We picked up Chester (Mayeng’s better half and Bubu’s daddy) on the way and that’s when things started to go wrong. We’re all convinced that he has a huge birthmark on his tushy haha (just kidding!). The car’s engine overheated and we had to stop at a gas station somewhere in Alabang. Although that was the end of our road trip and we had to wait for a few hours before the knights in shining armor—Mogs (Sileng’s better half) and his friend—arrived, we really, truly, had fun. We took a lot of pictures to make up for the previous get-togethers when we didn’t take any. We also got to meet Cleng’s, erm, “friend” who very sweetly offered to give us a ride home. 

I can’t remember what brought us four together, but whatever it was, I’m eternally grateful.

I’m so looking forward to our next Tagaytay road trip, and hopefully this time we’ll reach our destination. ^_^