close encounters of the enduring kind

WHAT DO you say to a friend you haven’t seen in two-and-a-half years? Before you answer that, how about giving me a tip on how to greet a friend unseen in ten years? While you’re trying to figure that out, tell me how to say hi to someone dear to you that you haven’t laid eyes on for twenty-five years??? Save your answers and suggestions for another time (i’ll tell you why in a minute), because I’ve already tried, and hopefully passed muster last night, when I met a group of friends I haven’t had the pleasure of breaking bread with since early 2010, a classmate who I can’t remember seeing since before the turn of the century, and a dearly-missed pal who I last saw before the 1990’s ! I met all of them last night, and as can be expected, it was a noisy, fun-filled evening.  The group mentioned above are Marivic Ching-Chua (the gracious hostess), Stefanie Victorino, Eunice Cobankiat-Pascual, Arlene Ayuste, Evelyn Go-Sy, Annette Sy and Mary Jone Tan, collectively known as The Gorgeous Ones. The batchmate I hadn’t seen since before the millennium was Dr Peggy Ting, who left for the States to find her fortune. The dear friend who I haven’t met in a quarter of a century was Hedy Ong-Soliman, who married (another batchmate, Jack Soliman) soon after college graduation, and who also moved overseas. Not only was I one of the few without a hyphen in my name, I was the only non-female period.  I considered this a rare privilege especially since I could listen in to conversations that only girls are privy to. 🙂 Seriously, one night couldn’t possibly be enough to catch up with half a lifetime of being away from each other, and so we contented ourselves with definitive stories, jokes and anecdotes that summed up, if that were possible, the years and miles that separated us all. We also hyped ourselves with the fact that the Grand 30th anniversary reunion of our 1982 graduating batch in high school (St Jude Catholic) was just days away. This was a cozy, intimate prelude, so to speak, and if it was to be a portent of things to come, then we were in for an awesome, awesome reunion. Thanks so much G’s, Doc Peggy Patches and QueenHedy for reliving all those wonderful memories, the conspiratorial winks, and the sweetness that brought me back to Ycaza St, circa 1982. Batchmates Forever ! YLB Noel