tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4336456893791056617.post-8729924069927553152008-06-27T22:19:00.000-07:002008-06-27T22:25:22.972-07:00AG<br /><br /> I was then a 15-year-old, unassuming, and an easy going teenager. My social life was with my high school classmates and with my neighborhood friends. Girls were not in my mind and nothing excited me more than watching movies in the cinemas of Dagupan. My high school was a non-academic, curriculum in agriculture, and no homework was assigned so I had a lot of free time.<br /> <br /> Going to church on Sundays was a mandatory obligation, rain or shine, which my mother imposed on her children. It was on one of those Sundays in church when I first noticed a young girl in blue dress with a blue ribbon on her hair walking towards the front of the church with her mother. For the first time in my life, I saw the most beautiful girl in this universe. Although I’ve known her since she was seven and I was eight, suddenly she looked like somebody new.<br /> <br /> Ever since that Sunday, I started grooming myself so she’d notice me. I thought of her during the day and she enlivened my dreams at night. To satisfy my longing I passed by her house every evening just in case I’d have a chance to talk to her. Occasionally, I would catch a glimpse of her inside her house, but nothing really could calm my restless heart until she’d know that I existed.<br /> <br /> After a month of desperately wanting to be noticed, I gained enough confidence to pay her a visit. One Saturday evening, I put on my best outfit and proceeded to her house with my heart beating fast and hands sweaty, but my attempt fizzled out when I saw their family car in the carport. Her parents were prominent citizens of our town, they were well schooled and her dad had a high government position.<br /> <br /> My family had a very modest means and as a young boy I looked up at her parents as above my social level. Two weeks later, I noticed the carport empty so I hurried back home to groom myself, plucked some roses from my mother’s potted plants and away I went to her house that evening. I knocked at her house door and with the porch light shinning on my face, the door opened and what a surprise, her mother greeted me and was amused at the sight of a dashing Romeo holding some roses.<br /> <br /> I stood frozen, my whole body temperature shot up and my fair skin could not mask the blushing of my face. I could feel beads of perspiration rolling down my forehead but her mother was very nice and quick to calm down my anxiety by inviting me to come inside and without hesitation announced my very presence to her daughter. She conveniently left the living room and her daughter sheepishly came out and noticed my flushed complexion. I handed her the roses and all I could say was “how are you?”.<br /> <br /> Fifteen minutes was all I could bear, the heat all over my body and my unease made me suffocate so I decided to bid her goodnight. I went home extremely happy for feeling like a winner, having hurdled the first inning. The second and succeeding visits got me accustomed to her very nice mother who was understanding and very entertaining. For my part, I meticulously planned the topics on what to talk about so I could impress her and also make an impression to her mother who was highly educated.<br /> <br /> Valentine’s Day, February 14 came and during the dance at her school she gave me her valentine heart pin, a pin I kept like a million dollar souvenir. I eventually graduated from high school and was accepted to a University in Quezon City. I impressed her mother and she told me that she was an alumna of the same school. She advised me to work hard and wished me good luck. Before I left for college I told my friend that I liked her and I’ll miss her dearly, and she said with a smile that she’ll also miss me. I took her hand and kissed it and then said with a whisper that I’ll always think of her.<br /><br /> College was tough for me. It was a payback for not being trained in high school. I managed to write her twice but the pressure I encountered with the likes of college algebra, chemistry, physics, college English were so overwhelming that I had to work double time in order to catch up with my classmates and avoid being kicked out of the school. I stopped corresponding with her thinking that I would see her when I go home during the semester and Christmas breaks, but I was very disappointed to find out that her family moved to central Philippines because her dad was moved to a new office.<br /> <br /> In the meantime, I met other girls and after graduating from college, I ended up working for a pharmaceutical company in Pasig. I occasionally visited my hometown but she was nowhere around during my visits and our path didn’t cross again until I was about to leave the country to immigrate. It was during the town fiesta dance at the auditorium when I saw her, lovely and beautiful as ever. She was surprised as I was to see her and I invited her to dance. I told her how pretty she was and she smiled and whispered “bolero”. <br /><br /> I didn’t pickup what she meant, whether it was about what I said or what I did, but after the music, as I was walking her to her seat, I asked how life was treating her for which she replied that she was getting married the following month. I was dumbfounded but I managed to congratulate her. She introduced me to her fiancé and that was the last time I saw her because I left the Philippines soon after. Twenty years later during my visit to my hometown to celebrate the golden wedding anniversary of my parents, I met her mother again and we became good friends, corresponding regularly until she passed away. I found out that her daughter SL, moved to America where she raised her family.Manaoag Portalnoreply@blogger.com